so I had to rescue an Lanes Cedar chest for some one who has no Idea what there doing is was built on August 16 1928, so I got to fix everyone's F crap an restore it to where is was on day one so what was the finish used at that time frame ?

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Difficult to get through your post. But Let me ask. The pictured chest is the one needing refinished? Does it have a new messed up finish on it? If so what is it?

Al

More than likely the Lane finish is shellac.

Al

Its he outside finish an they were using bulls eye an Poly, at less they didn't touch the inside or bottom an I need to find a key for it too

Well the reason it looks yellow and ugly it was probably finished with an oil based varnish. An oil based varnish yellows as it ages and this one has been around for a while. I would start by stripping the old finish off. I normally use Kleen Strip remover. It's available at the box stores and even walmart. Work on one side at a time. The remover will dry out on you and it's important to keep it wet with the remover for 15-20 minutes and scrape off the old finish and stripper with a broad knife. Then as soon as possible the residue needs to be cleaned off because removers contain wax. You can wash it off with lacquer thinner and rags or if you have a power washer that the pressure is adjustable to under 1500 psi you can rinse the residue off with water. Just don't put the nozzle right on the wood and there will be no damage to the wood or joints. Since the lid has the paper tag, I would probably do that one with lacquer thinner to prevent getting water on the tag. Once you have the finish stripped off I would sand it inside and out and put just a clear finish on the exterior. Cedar is prone to darkening like cherry does. You can slow this process down with a product called Sun Block sold by Kwick Kleen. It's a sun screen formulated for wood. Then for a finish for the exterior you need one that doesn't yellow. You could use any finish that was acrylic. If you have the means of spraying you could finish with a pre-catalyzed lacquer or a water based polyurethane. I would leave the interior unfinished.

If you are going to add a finish to what's there, you could use an oil base varnish or oil base polyurethane, but not lacquer. Being done in the '20's it could be nitro lacquer. If you strip off the finish, I would use a waterbase polyurethane.

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Original finish looks to be shellac, I use denatured Alcohol on an area that wasn't touched by them an it came off to the bear wood, so it looks to remove what they did an find some more of the original screws for the molding an I will use dewaxed shellac an French polish it to the original state it was in the beginning

Here is some better pictures I took in the shop, I paid $100.00 for this Lane Cedar Chest

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With the color it is, if the finish is shellac then it must be amber shellac. With what you are doing you can use standard shellac. The only time sealcoat is really needed is when it's going to be topcoated with a water based finish or polyurethane.

Padding the finish on would be an easy way to refinish. If you sand too much you run the risk of removing the "age" and may not have as much value. Sometimes it's better not to do a complete refinish.

Al