Refinishing cabinets

[VIKING]

Hi Valentine,
To fix the doors would require somehow getting glue back between all of the layers of veneer consistently, and then clamping them flat and letting them dry. Then, after un-clamping them, you will throw them away, because they will look really bad. The hardware is salvagable. The knobs in your picture are glued into a drilled hole. Just give them a really good wiggle and you will break the glue joint. then they pull right out.
Some people are really into keeping the original hardware and some are not. Purely a personal choice. I would replace all of the doors at the very least. the knobs are not hard to re-use, it just takes the same thickness of door to have them latch securely. That should be easy to acheive. The hinges are probably re-useable as well.
Are the interiors of the cabinets in as bad shape as the outside? I would be suprised if they are. Like I said before, it may be possible to replace the exterior parts of your cabinets, while saving all the interiors and face frames. If you need more precise information on how to go about doing this I would be glad to help. Woodworking is in my blood.
Good luck, Rich

[lwebb]

Valentine, In your situation, I'd just replace the wood. Mine was unique as the cabinets were more complex with curved sides etc. and I was trying to reuse every nut bolt and wooden piece over the keep it original as when I started, my Holiday was the only one known to exist.
Replacing your flat panels would be much easier!
lanny

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by valentine

Thanks for all of your comments and advice. I'll see what I can do with the glue and needle salvage evrything I can. I've heard from a few of you say that the hardware is not worth saving. Why is plywood that is falling apart worth performing sugery on, but knobs and hinges get replaced? The drift I am getting is when I replace the doors, get new hardware b/c origional hardware is hard to deal with. Is this true?

I think the opposite...replace the plywood and keep the hardware. I wouldn't try re-gluing your plywood - it's too far gone. The hardware you have is pretty unique to '64 trailers - one would recognize that. Oak plywood is oak plywood - as long as it is stained & not painted, I think you're okay with just replacing it. It'll be easier, stronger and look better than it would if it was repaired.

We did do some minor repairs on one of our lower cabinets, but anything more than a couple square inches is not worth fixing IMO.

Shari

[Klatawa]

You have herd enough about painting our 1963 Safari had the floor replaced and most of the cabinets reinstalled and painted because they had also delaminated. We removed everything and started over in Birch instead of oak. Use as much of the old cabinets a templates because the inside radius is not the same from one foot to the next on the inside. Also all veneers are not the same the are graded from shop grades to A-1, you get what you pay for. What I found is the cheaper the material the thiner the veneer is and if you are not carful sanding, it will sand through and it will always be in a spot that shows. I always glue and screw all of my framework together I use pocket screws for most of my work when it will not show and plugged when it will show. I have found out that single axle trailers have some what of a rough ride when traveling down the road. Good luck and have fun, because if you are not having fun you are not doing it right!