Restoration Job - stripping / re-finishing

[ado]

I recently purchased a trunk that was used to transport the goods of an Italian migrant to Australia. I'm told that the wood is baltic pine (but I wouldn't really know). An image of one end of the trunk is below.

There are some nice shipping labels still attached.

My plan is to strip the paint (using Bostik Envirostipper), sand manually to 280 grit (or so) and polish (with Organoil Wax and Polish).

Ideally I'd like to maintain and preserve the shipping labels.

Some questions for experienced restorers:

1. Any tips as to how to strip the paint from around the labels without damaging the labels?

2. One idea to preserve the labels was to apply a coat of clear laquer. Any thoughts, comments or other ideas?

3. Any ideas on how holes should be filled? My father suggested an appropraitely tinted acrylic wood filler...

All input gratefully received.

Thanks,
ado

[artme]

Welcome to our collective wisdom, quirky ways and strong opinions Ado and just to demonstrate the truth of what I say, read on!!!

See my post about the oily table top in this forum.
Why do you want to bugger up the history of the piece?
i think If you do what you are suggesting you will wind up with a sad story.

[ado]

Hi Artme thanks for the welcome and your comments.

Not sure if my intention was clear in my original post. I want to keep the labels on the trunk but strip the brown paint off from around them...

cheers,
ado

[ravlord13]

Welcome Ado,
No sugestions but I am sure someone in the brains trust will help.
Or Hinder.
Catch ya
Andrew

[MacS]

Your idea would work, but you will have to be very careful not to ruin your project.

You will first have to test the coating on the trunk, so you know your clear coat
is compatible with what is on top of the labels. Once you know this, then apply one coat on the labels and allow to dry, then do the same to a second coat, and allow to throughly dry.

Use the blue masking tape on the dried clear coats to box in the labels, then with a sharp scraper or a single edge razor blade scrape the paint off the wood around the labels, and then remove the tape.

Depending on how you will be finishing the trunk, you may need to re-apply new tape for the staining or paint, once they are dry, the remove the tape and start applying your clear coats to complete the project.

Good Luck

[ado]

Thanks Mac,
Will give it some further thought...
after considering comments from Artme, I may leave the end with labels on it as is, strip and polish the remainder. perhaps a clear coat on end with labels to protect against kids with crayons...
Will post photos when complete.
Thanks again
ado

[Cruzi]

Strongly agree with artme, stripping anything from the chest would be like stripping history.

The bumps dents and chips are history, not just the labels.

Clean and wax it, no more.

[astrid]

What next door said,
Astrid