Lunch Box Furniture Refinishing Kit

This custom furniture refinishing kit is in an authentic metal lunch box. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Lunch Box Furniture Refinishing Kit

We just shipped this vintage lunch box furniture refinishing kit to New York for yet another retiree who must have expressed an interest in refurbishing furniture in their “free time.” Over the years, furniture refinishing kits have been a favorite retirement gift especially those that can be customized with the custom colors of Howard RestorAFinish.

You can make one as a gift as well buying these products from your local hardware stores. Each of the Howard Furniture Refinishing products retail for at least $10 each.

I have used Howard furniture refinishing products for 40 years and continue to do so. My favorite product is the Howard Feed n Wax, a combination of bees wax and carnauba oil that rehydrates wood cells. When I find a piece of furniture at an auction or thrift store, I dust it off, then apply Howard Feed n Wax.

After polishing the wood piece, I then decide if I need to do anything more to the piece. Very often that’s all it needs. How easy is that!

You can make these by using a cardboard box or something more fancy. We use both vintage metal lunch boxes to quilted fabric bags so all of the items are offered in a nice reusable container.

For example, our Vintage Lunch Box furniture refinishing kit has all of the basics to refinish a medium sized piece of furniture. The Howard Feed N Wax is in two 8 oz bottles to keep it from drying out once one of the bottles is opened. It won’t; I had a broken bottle that lasted a couple of years before I used all of the contents without drying but if you’ve never used this product you would not know. Several customers have expressed concern so we decided to ship the two smaller sizes.

All the basics someone needs to refinish a medium sized piece of furniture. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

We include plastic gloves, Qtips to get into those little nooks and crannies, a steel pad for those hard to reach spots and a cotton polishing cloth to finish it off.

To start with, there is Howard Wood Soap and Polishing Compound for any residue you need to remove. Sometimes old pieces have a spray of paint that will easily come off with a little polishing compound application.

For those pieces with more bumps, Howard RestorAFinish helps to seal the wood to protect it. We include the neutral if a color isn’t specified. The RestorAFinish can also be used as a heavy duty cleaner.

And because this is a retirement gift, I tucked in a tea bag with a 2 oz. jar of fresh Missouri honey and a honey dipper.

And a little extra surprise, a 2 oz jar of raw strained honey with a honey dipper. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The honey can be used in a variety of teas, this just happened to be one I have and enjoy.

And since this is a retirement gift, a tea bag to use with that fresh honey. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

In terms of shipping, shipping costs to continental US have increased in the last year and depend on where you are and where you are shipping. On average this costs between $25-$35 to ship ground.

The fun part is finding the container. We found these genuine metal lunch boxes from the 1950s at a local auction.

And to the person embarking on their new life chapter, enjoy!

For more tips on gardening, beekeeping, cooking and easy home decor, subscribe to my weekly Garden Notes.

Charlotte