[scottmandue]

Inherited my mom's old cedar chest, not sure how old it is but it has been in the family for a few decades (as long as I can remember).
It is about 18x18x48 inches, my wife likes to knit so it will make a good stash for her yarn addiction... I mean collection.
Problem being my elderly father (RIP) got bored one day and slathered it with ugly yellow paint.
My concern is that cedar being so soft how to remove the paint with out damaging the wood.
I would like to strip it down to the wood, not sure what if any finish was on it before dad painted it, I vaguely remember it was a natural finish (it was at the foot of my parents bed and I rarely if ever entered their bedroom).
Pretty sure we have some wood workers out in PPOT land... so what would you do?
TIA!