mothball smell in cedar chest

The only thing I would suggest is to sand the interior with some 200grit. Wear a dust mask. No guarantees but worth a shot…

-- HorizontalMike -- "Woodpeckers understand..."

Maybe set it outside with the lid open exposing the inside to the sun?

-- Joe

Ozone treatment gets the smell out of smoke damaged belongings after a fire. Same process might work for the chest.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

A friend of mine had the same issue. (Who would put mothballs in a cedar trunk?) I gave him about 1/2 bushel of cedar chips from my planer that he put into the trunk for a few months. I am not sure how it worked though. I need to ask him. Just anogther attempt to correct this.

-- In God We Trust

try the sun if you can then if it is still there try sitting a large dish of Bi caronate of soda in there with the lid shut. It should gather up the smell pretty well after awhile. The other thing wold be to replace the smell with another – like lavender or camphor. That way you can keep it in there all the time. But I would try the Bicarb first.
good luck

-- Theresa, https://sites.google.com/site/tmj65treasure/

I think Theresa is on the right track with the baking soda. Something to absorb the odor.

Not sure I’d subject this to direct sunlight because the heating cycles will cause movement in the wood.

Sanding likely won’t help as the odor is likely penetrated deeper than just the surface.

Rice is often used to dry things as it absorbs moisture—this might have a similar effect as sunlight without the heating cycles. You could layer uncooked dry rice on the bottom for a day. Turn the chest, layer the next surface. Patience would be key.

-- "Hard work is not defined by the difficulty of the task as much as a person's desire to perform it.", DS251

Eliminating odours is a breeze with Febreeze.

If nothing else works you could just leave it open for a few weeks and put scented lining paper in.

-- Do or do not, there is no try

You can leave it in an airy place for a couple years. Or you can just seal it all in with a couple coats of a good lacquer

I bought a huge bureau thing in a used furniture shop when I was in West Palm Beach for a year.
The shop was so lousy with sachets that I didn’t notice the smell in the wood of the bureau.
It clearly came from S Florida probably Miami South beach ‘coz it stank like a bad tranny Either that or the prior owner had both a penchant for big bottles of bad perfume and a bad case of parkensons.

I bleached it, hosed it, left it in the sun, shellacked it, even tried urethane.
The stink only stopped when I sprayed it with Lacquer.

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.

If sanding doesn’t work you could seal it and reline the inside with new cedar. You can get a closet kit at a big box store.

-- mrg

It will go way if you leave it open, but it will take a loooooooong time.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

After doing a little research a while back I found out that cedar does little to ward off moths. Myth busted!
Ironically neither do mothballs. In “highly” concentrated amounts the chemicals in mothballs will kill moths.
Be careful if you sand as the chemicals in the mothballs are known carcinogens. I’d remove the cedar if it’s a lining.