Refinishing An Oak Recipe Box

I've been struggling with how to keep all of my recipes organized for awhile now.  I've tried binders with protective sleeves, photo albums that hold recipe cards, and keeping them on an online site. 

I realized that I'm just more of a recipe box kind of girl so I went back to that.  I have a nice oak box that Hubs gave me one year for Christmas.  I love it, but it's not big enough to hold all of my recipes.

I've been using a small Longaberger basket to hold all of my baking cards. I like the look of it, but it tends to get dusty.

I found a vintage oak recipe box at a yard sale and thought it might work.  The only problem was that it was painted a high gloss turquoise with shiny yellow hinges.  I didn't get a photo of it all together, but here it is after I removed the hinges. 

I used a water based stripper because it is not stinky and will not burn your skin off if you get a drop on you.  Of course, I still used protective gloves, eye protection, and a mask - just in case.

I used a sponge brush to apply the gel to all of the box and the two hinges.  Aren't they a lovely shade of yellow?

The paint on the hinges came off in one application, but the box took several steps.

After applying each application, I waited about 10 minutes and then scraped off the residue.

After all of the paint came off I used fine steel wool, dipped into the gel, to scrub off any stubborn areas around the dove tailed joints where paint tends to gather.

I then wiped everything clean with some mineral spirits and let it dry.  Finally, I put a coat of Minwax wood finish on the wood to even out the color.  I also added a layer of a wipe-on poly to protect the box further, letting everything dry between coats.

Now my "new" recipe box sits with my other recipe box in my kitchen. 

It's easy to get to, easy to grab a recipe from , and dust wipes right off!

I'm glad I took the time to fix it up.