[fireflyinva]

Marian,

Depending on what wood you have, there were two kinds of treatments used, either Danish Oil or Lacquer. After trying Danish Oil (Watcos is the brand they used and it's still commonly available in independent hardware stores), I found that the red oak woodwork still looked awful and dull. So, then I checked the FAQs at the Vintage Airstream Archives:

"Q: What are cabinets in our Airstream finished with?
A: From 1947 to 1971, the finish was a natural finish semi-gloss catalyzed lacquer except on the exotic woods (mahogany, cherry, walnut), where the finish was a Natural Oil Finish. From 1972 to the present-day Polyurethane finishes, it was wood-grain vinyl.
Legend has it to be one exception: the interior wood of the then inexpensive 1961-1963 Bambi was finished with an opaque paint/varnish. This was done because the plywood veneer used was visually flawed and had been rejected by the production line for the larger Airstreams."

I found that I could not find the "pre-catalyzed lacquer" originally used in the trailer. I ended up cleaning up the wood using Fornby's, then finishing with Bartley's oil based lacquer, in a matte formulation, which ended up giving amazingly good results.

Good luck,

Mary