A wooden chest, also known as a hope chest is usually made from cedar wood. The traditional hope chest is a wooden trunk or box that is used to store special articles of clothing and other household goods for a bride to use after her marriage. The interesting trivia is that the hope chest is thought to have progressed out of requirement. In medieval Europe, many marriages we arranged by parents in order to merge family fortunes.
Coming back to the modem day and age, If one takes good care of hope chests, it can last for generations and one way to ensure that it does is by proper cleaning. Taking care of a wooden chest is very much like taking care of any other wooden furnishings. Keep the wooden away from water and only use products meant for wooden items only.
6 Ways to Clean a Wooden Chest
Step 1
Firstly, remove all the items stored in the chest and place is somewhere safe. Then take cloth and place the chest on top of the cloth. Wondering why? Simply because the cloth will protect your floor from all the dust and other products which will be used in the cleaning process of the chest.
Step 2
Start the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the inside of the chest carefully.
Step 3
Now take a piece of cloth and carefully wipe the chest clean. You can do this by dampening a lint free dusting cloth or any other cloth. Make sure to clean the interiors of the lid as well. Make sure you don’t dampen the cloth too much as too much wetness is not good for wooden items.
Step 4
Once you are done with the cleaning, let the chest dry by keeping the lid open. Once you have repeated the process on the exterior of the chest as well, then it’s time to apply the furniture polish. The best way to do this is by spraying the cloth with the spray and wiping it on the chests exterior.
Step 5
It’s time to polish the wood. Take a piece of clean cloth and smear a tiny amount of wood polish to the insides of the chest. If the chest is made of cedar wood, then you can use little cedar oil.
Step 6
The last step is cleaning the hardware. Make sure you clean the metal hinges with a soft cloth, gently.