NAHANT – Do you have an antique family trunk nestled away in your closet or basement that is too battered to display, yet you can’t bear to part with?If so you might want to drag it out and call the Island Trunk Shop.Nahant resident Michael Gallagher said he has been professionally restoring trunks for years.”I can take a trunk that is beat up beyond belief and restore it,” he said. “I’ve restored trunks that look like they were pulled off a stagecoach and dragged for miles. When I’m done it looks like it did the day it was made.”Gallagher said many companies offer trunk cleaning, but there are few people locally who do complete restoration. He said trunk restoration is a painstaking process that is a labor of love. It takes him approximately six weeks to refinish a piece.In addition to restoring trunks brought in by customers, Gallagher also has trunks for sale that he has restored.”I search for trunks everywhere,” he said. “Flea markets, yard sales, eBay and Craigslist. Right now I am looking for trunks made between 1830 and 1880, which is when some of the rarest trunks were made.”Gallagher said the first step in the restoration process is removing the leather or canvas covering from trunks that have it.”Most of the canvas has already been worn away by years of abuse,” he said. “I remove the rest of the canvas and take everything off the trunk, including the hardware.”After taking the canvas or leather covering off, Gallagher said he opens the trunk and his senses are usually assaulted by a mildew smell.”Many trunks are covered inside with wallpaper or canvas,” he said. “That’s where the mildew smell comes from and removing the paper gets rid of it.”Every trunk is different, but Gallagher said the most time consuming part of the restoration process is sanding the trunk.”Everything gets cleaned, sanded and fixed. The sanding is the most tedious part of it and it is the most non-glamorous part,” he said. “I sand off all the glue and get the trunk smooth. I do every inch of the trunk inside and out. I even do the bottom.”When he has finished sanding the trunk, Gallagher finishes it using tung oil, which he described as natural wood oil.”When I restore any trunk, the only thing that goes back on it is tung oil,” he said. “It’s what was originally used on trunks. It brings out the natural color of the wood and it allows the wood to breathe. Polyurethane doesn’t let the wood breathe.”Gallagher said he doesn’t use reproduction hardware and if a piece of hardware can’t be restored he scours the earth to find the original part.”I look everywhere – flea markets, yard sales and on eBay,” he said. “Replacement parts are what really drive the price of restoration up. They are rare and very hard to find.”Another thing that can be very hard to find is the key to open an antique trunk. Gallagher has an extensive collection of antique keys for trunks, chests and cabinets.”I have more than 6,000 trunk keys,” he said. “I collect them. There are just as many different types of trunk keys as there are trunks. If I don’t have the key, I can help people locate the lock manufacturer and the key code from most trunk latches and locks.”Gallagher said people have contacted him regarding keys for trunks they were sure held family treasures, but more often than not, the treasure is the inside of the trunk itself, not what it holds.”Some of the antique trunks have beautiful old lithographs and borders,” he said. “These are the real treasure. When I restore a trunk I remove them, restore them and put them back in the same spot.”Anyone interested in Gallagher’s work can contact him at 781-581-1822 or visit his Web site at www.islandtrunkshop.com.