Said It Here

How to get rid of a strong strange odor inside a vintage chest

Vintage chests often trap a powerful, pungent smell inside that hits you every time you open the lid. The intense odor makes it impossible to use the chest for storage without transferring the smell to whatever you put inside.

Overview
People affected7 accounts across 1 forum
Workarounds found29 items attempted
Community agreement14 total upvotes

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

29 items+ Contribute

Found another way around this?

Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.

  1. 1
    Steam cleaning the outside of the chest
    Did this help you?
  2. 2
    Using expensive perfumed washing detergent and softeners
    Did this help you?
  3. 3
    Using soda crystals and white vinegar
    Did this help you?
  4. 4
    Adding antibacterial laundry additives
    Did this help you?
  5. 5
    Air drying outside and using a dehumidifier
    Did this help you?
  6. 6
    Regularly deep cleaning the washing machine
    Did this help you?
  7. 7
    spraying raw wood parts with mold remover
    Did this help you?
  8. 8
    placing furniture next to a dehumidifier
    Did this help you?
  9. 9
    spraying with vinegar
    Did this help you?
  10. 10
    putting drawers out in the sun
    Did this help you?
  11. 11
    replacing pressed particle board backs
    Did this help you?
  12. 12
    sanding and refinishing
    Did this help you?
  13. 13
    Soaking the bag in warm water with washing detergent for 20 minutes
    Did this help you?
  14. 14
    Blotting the inside with a clean towel and leaving it upside down to dry with a spoon holding the pocket open
    Did this help you?
  15. 15
    Leaving the furniture outside in the sun and wind for months
    Did this help you?
  16. 16
    Treating with baking soda and wiping down with lemon juice
    Did this help you?
  17. 17
    Sanding the wood and coating it with polyurethane
    Did this help you?
  18. 18
    Using coffee grounds
    Did this help you?
  19. 19
    Using an ozonator
    Did this help you?
  20. 20
    Airing out the puzzle pieces
    Did this help you?
  21. 21
    Using an ozone machine
    Did this help you?
  22. 22
    Laying pieces out in full sunlight
    Did this help you?
  23. 23
    Lightly spraying with a disinfectant like Lysol
    Did this help you?
  24. 24
    Putting loose pieces in a container with baking soda
    Did this help you?
  25. 25
    Placing a bowl of baking soda inside the puzzle box
    Did this help you?
  26. 26
    Using an upholstery cleaning machine and running a dehumidifier to dry it
    Did this help you?
  27. 27
    Wrapping the furniture in plastic bags, spraying deodorizer, and using a wet/dry vacuum to pull the scent through the padding
    Did this help you?
  28. 28
    Leaving the piece outside in fresh air and sunshine for a week
    Did this help you?
  29. 29
    Keeping washable blankets over the furniture to prevent ongoing smells
    Did this help you?
Tried another approach not listed above?+ Share your workaround ↑

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/CleaningTips7 people · September 2026 – October 2026

“Unfortunately the bottle was leaking without me realizing until it was to late, meaning my purse now smells like opioids.”source ↗

“a month later the smell is still strong enough it makes me sick. How should I go about cleaning the inside?”source ↗

a_potato_ate_me · r/CleaningTips · 4 upvotes

“It still has an old smell, not bad, just old and stale.”source ↗

kayb-rown · r/CleaningTips · 4 upvotes

“My washing load always ends up coming out smelling a bit like popcorn.”source ↗

“Ive used expensive perfumed washing detergent and softeners all the way down to soda crystals and white vinegar nothing seems to smell nice.”source ↗

“Just at my wits end”source ↗

Strong_Equivalent_58 · r/CleaningTips · 3 upvotes

“My partner and I bought a vintage nightstand over a year ago which smells [still] like moth balls.”source ↗

“I tried: baking soda for days, then wiped it down multiple times with lemon juice.”source ↗

“I went in that room the other day and was slammed by the odor once again. I really am at a loss.”source ↗

Honest-Biscotti6638 · r/CleaningTips · 2 upvotes

“inside there is this really strange and pungent odor. I genuinely don’t know how to even begin to describe it, the smell itself isn’t terrible but the strength of the smell is. It’s only when I open the chest.”source ↗

“Any advice on what it could be and how to get it to not smell are greatly appreciated.”source ↗

k_shell · r/CleaningTips · 1 upvotes

“We brought it home today and have found it to have a really overwhelming musty smell and quite pressingly, it is making us both wheeze and have tight chests.”source ↗

“After testing on small part of the varnished bit, we found that the spray bleached it.”source ↗

CanIHearAYikes · r/CleaningTips · 1 upvotes

“I bought a second hand jigsaw puzzle, and although the design is lovely, the pieces smell terrible out of the box.”source ↗

“It's a sort of smoke/ musty sort of smell.”source ↗

“I am trying to air it out as much as possible, but is there anything else I could do?”source ↗

Brokkolli000 · r/CleaningTips

Where this came up

r/CleaningTipscleaningfurniturefurniture carefurniture cleaningfurniture restorationhome cleaninglaundryleather caremold removalodor removalodorsodour removalsecondhand itemsvintage items

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