Customers'
Gallery
This is where we
show off some of the projects that our customers have taken on.
Many of them used
our trunk handles, some bought a challenge from our Compost Pile.
Some curse the day
they decided to take on a project of such magnitude. Take a look
and see what you think:
From Larry Gattis:
I have enclosed before
and after pictures of my first trunk project.
Thanks for the excellent
service and all the help. You have been wonderful to deal with.
The grandmother of the
bride was happy and I hope the bride will be also.
Larry Gattis
Jed Painter Proves the
Old Black Fiber Trunks Have Potential!
At long last the project
is done. It took six weeks and more forearm strength than I thought
I had.
As you can see, all the
metal was cleaned and shined.
The disgusting vulcanite
covering was shaved off and then the paper underneath was attacked with
all manner of tools.
The oak slats were custom
cut by yours truly and then added to the sides and top.
The edge clamps and the
top clamps are from Brettuns Village, as well as the new handles,
but the rest is original
New Jersey steel. Not a bad way to spend 6 weeks. I wonder
if I still have a job.
Thanks for all the free advice
on the website, without which this would not have been possible,
your prompt answers to my
inquiries, and your prompt shipment of my repeated orders.
Jed P.
From Christopher Rollston
The dark brown straps and
tabs look great (we think!)
From
Randall Barbera:
Here's my first attempt.
It's a large wine box that I sanded all of the logo's off of (the bottom
half) and then I made the top from scratch.
I made the slat ends
from brass slabs, the slats are maple. Those are your leather handles
on the sides and I used your leather for the belts too.
No screws anywhere on
this one. Tung oil finish (of course).
Randall
Another Trunk by Randall:
Charles Wright took care
of business on his Grandmother's trunk:
He even made a new tray out of oak!
Nice work, Chas!
Nice work by Donald Guss
Larry Larson's Miracle
I would like to thank
Brettuns Village Trunk Shop for the advice you gave me on refinishing my
trunk and also the parts you had shipped me to do the job.
I had bought my trunk
at an antique place in Michigan for $22.50. I cleaned it up, little
paint, removed the paint from the wood and tung oiled everything else.
I put on some new handles,
hinge, and some embossed metal where I had a lot of damage and I now have
a beautiful trunk. Thank you, Larry Larson
Built From Scratch by Dave Lackey
Just wanted to say THANKS
for the orders you filled and the questions you answered. Also, attached
a photo of the completed trunk.
First attempt at anything
like this and it was so much fun! Best regards, Dave Lackey
Here's a winner
from Jennifer Edwards:
Sir, May I introduce myself,
i'm Thierry Vermeulen from Belgium (Europe) and i'm a professional photographer
and graphic designer.
Me and and my lady are active in the re-enactment scene (1833 - 1899),
and after buying a real
1890's fieldcamera with tripod there was the need for a photographic toolbox.
I never did this before, and the toolbox is made out of scratch,
all by hand and i did not
use any screws at all. Using no screws is something i learned from
You, i'm very pleased to have found your site on the internet.
Buying almost all the necessary
stuff at Your shop, made it a lot easyer to achieve my goal.
Again thanks for the support,
and hereby You will find 2 pictures of our new/old toolbox.
Friendly Greetings,
Vermeulen Thierry
Antwerp, Belgium
Jim Theriault's Jenny Lind-Keyhole-Saratoga-Loaf of
Bread Trunk
(Pick the name you like best)
Covered in new leather.
Don't the guys over at Brettuns
Village Leather just love to see this type of restoration work!
Jim Zartman
Howdy! Finally, after
several hundred man hours of work and a couple hundred dollars in parts
and supplies -- the trunk is completed!
Hopefully, the efforts of
this family trunk restoration project are reflected in the attached photos
-- along with photos of what I started with.
I do want to thank you again,
for not just being a valuable source for parts, etc., but for answering
my novices's questions and offering sound advice.
I stayed strictly to your
philosophy of “keep it original” (no paint or screws, etc.) --
even to the point of replacing the canvas--
and of modifying the strap
holders to conform to the originals. I think my wife’s grandfather
would be pleased.
Best wishes for your continuing
success.
James L. “Jim” Zartman
San Antonio, Texas
Frank Hayes Performed a Miracle!
This was my fathers trunk,
sat in the garage for 54 years that I can vouch for, not sure how many
before. So, I tried to make it look cleaned up but not redone as
you can see.
We are extremely pleased
with how it turned out, couldn't have done it without your expert advice,
beautiful leather pieces,
nails and once again, your expert advice!
I would like to say for
any other novices that want to take a project on like this- no matter how
many nails you think you need, you will need more!
It does cause a break in
the momentum waiting for them to arrive. However, it does give one time
to reflect and reconsider 'hmmmm, maybe I should ???'.
That's what I did, and I
love the result!
Thanks again, hope to find
a trunk in the neighborhood that wants to follow me home!
Frank Hayes, Grass Valley,
CA
Take a Look at
What Becky Prince Did
I always enjoy your newletters
and your website. Your website alone is like a reference book for
refinishing a smelly old trunk and I appreciate all of your tips and advice.
I refinished the trunk
using your shared knowledge from your website, as well as Brettuns Village's
handles, leather straps and stays.
The tung oil and golden
oak stain formula is great too and it took several applications to soak
in the dry wood.
I'm planning to begin
working on another trunk this week. Best regards, Becky Prince
From Seaton Reed
Hi Churchill, I
thought you might like to see the finished product. Your helpful suggestions
provided me with guidance I would not have otherwise had and the
parts and supplies made
it a fun project. And we now have a usable trunk. You will note I
was able to find suitable trim strips which were 1/4 " Aspen
(inexpensive from Home
Depot) which I tacked on with the short clinch nails so as not to protrude
through the sides. By using 1/4" inch the original tray rails remained
usable.
The original tray disappeared
long ago so I made a replacement using 1/2" Aspen (glued and nailed) lined
with aromatic cedar which came out very nice.
The original interior
was lined with a brown paper on the sides and paper cover cardboard like
pieces on the bottom and top all glued in. This was in very poor
condition.
Thanks again for
your help. Seaton Reed
Here's one from Debra
Early
Radio Radio!
Tom & Pat Gaber Worked a Minor Miracle
Hi: We ordered
a hide from you in November 2004. We covered an old Majestic Mighty
Monarch radio with the hide. You mentioned that you would be interested
in seeing the finished
product. Here are some pictures of what your hides covered up.
It was a lot of work, but the finished radio is beautiful.
But here are the pictures
- hope you enjoy them. Tom & Pat Gaber
From George Bernheimer
This trunk is one I made,
with your parts, for my wife to use in pre Civil War Territorial Kansas
and Civil War era living history presentations that she and I do.
Thanks again for looking out for us! Best regards, George Bernheimer
Joe Mihm!
To all you good folks at
Brettuns Village, Thanks to your help and wonderful website, I finally
refinished my first trunk (first photo, above).
It belonged to my great-grandfather
and got passed down through the years. I took the "before' pictures
a little late
(after I started tearing
it down), but overall I was very pleased with the final outcome (even though
I broke a cardinal rule and painted the metal!!).
I hope this one is good
enough to make your "Customer's Gallery". Thanks again for all the
help,
Joe Mihm
North Branch, Michigan
Dear Churchill,
Well, you've got me good
and hooked now, a hopeless basket case. I just finished my second
trunk (my first is on your Customer's Gallery, and I have four more in
the wings).
I bought this one off of
George McConnell, whose name I discovered from your website- he is
only about an hour away from me here in Michigan. I attached some
before and after pictures.
All hardware was purchased
through Brettun's village (advice was free!). You're website should
come with a warning- "this hobby can be hopelessly addicting, and
involves vast amounts of hard, dirty, detail work.
Enter into it at your own
risk!" Once again, thanks for the advice.
Joe Mihm
North Branch, Michigan
The blue one was a real
challenge- my first all-metal trunk, and the first one I papered
(and the first one that had mothballs in it, hooo-weeee!!!-
I
'm still trying to get the
smell out of my nosehairs!). I used pre-primed house trim aluminum
coil stock to replace the metal on the bottom that was rusted away.
It worked out real nice.
I pre-papered the inside with the thick white paper material used for "rough"
surfaces, then put the finish paper over it. M
akes the inside smooth as
a baby's bottom, and "mighty purdee" to boot. Of course, the Brettuns
Village handles, caps, nails, lid stay, and bottom corners add the final
touches.
From Les:
Thanks Again for your advice
and help. The Handles, Straps and hardware were perfect. The
information on your web site was really helpful to me.
I decided to keep the original
worn look, but removed the black paint that was in big runs all over the
place. I scraped this thing with a dental pick carefully chipping
of the paint and
other crud from years of
neglect. I sanded and used brass wire brushes to clean the embossed
tin then used flat black paint. After it was dry I lightly sanded
the tin to reveal the canvas
like embossed pattern.
A light scraping and sanding of the wood slats and some red mahogany stain
(that maple don't take stain well) did the trick.
Followed all that up with
two coats of thinned Tung oil. I think its safe to say that this
will someday go to my kids. Les
From Mike Vitetta - Custom Built for
his 1930 Model A Ford
Mike used our handles, straps,
and some spare pieces of matching leather to do the corners of his trunk.
They may not build cars
like they used to, but Mike knows how to make the trunks. E-mail
him your questions here.
From
John Godbout
This is my first project
but not my last. Thanks to Brettuns Village for the advice and parts i
used!! I also used the tung oil and golden oak with a little added secret
ingredient.
Thanks again!!
John in SC.
Check out this one that John built from scratch using parts from Brettuns Village:
After refinishing several
steamer trunks I decided to make one from scratch, after spending several
days in my workshop I ended up with this replica of an 1880's steamer trunk.
The trunk is made from one
inch pine boards which I planed down to a half inch just like the original
trunks, then added the oak wood slats and brass plated hardware.
There are no screws in this
trunk, the main trunk is nailed with small nails and all the oak slats
and hardware were attached with solid brass tacks. The trunk has some small
dings and
hammer marks here and there,
but thats from being hand made and not machine manufactured! It is made
of 100% solid wood,
no particle board or plywood
in this one! Its stained with golden oak and a touch of cherry and mahogany
stains.
