Replacing fake wood with real wood

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by webspinner

Maybe stainless is the way to go...

I have no background for this, but I've often thought that 10 year from now, stainless will be viewed as the "avocado green" of the 2000s. Again - what do I know?

[webspinner]

The original harvest gold counter was one of the things I actually like about the original decor. So it might have survived as a nod to the olden days if it hadn't clashed so horribly with the birch. The birch came along with its warm, rosy undertones and made the harvest gold look seasick. Not a feature I want in a Land Yacht.

Still up in the air about counter tops.

[Suzzeee]

Wow - I can't wait to see all of this at Casini!!! For the countertop we went for a contrast that tied in the other colors. We used Wilsonart laminate in the kitchen. Formica had some cool patterns too and I've also seen some very cool countertops with Marmoleum. The only downside I see to stainless is keeping it looking nice. We added a lot of stainless in our trailer and it shows spots and streaks big time!!

[Landshark]

Don't know whether weight or cost are a factor for you in using stainless steel for the counter-top, but I was freaked out at both the dollar estimate and weight estimate for our '62 Flying Cloud's counter. We ain't goin' stainless!

Vivian

[webspinner]

We're currently, as of this moment, leaning towards birch butcher block. That would be about 30 lbs for the 5 1/2 square feet that are left after the oven and sink cutouts take their bites.

Stainless might add some weight to the plywood, but I can't see it adding more than the 30 lbs extra that granite floor tile would add. We'd go the easy route with stainless, gluing it directly to the existing plywood and cutting the corners flush for the original trim - no heavy underlayments or welded seams to add weight and expense.

I finally pulled up a kitchen picture in Photoshop, birchified the old walls and cabinets and then did a series of layers with different counter and backsplash colors. The birch seems to work best, but is even better if we cover the white wall behind the stove with stainless.

[webspinner]

New pictures will go up as soon as I get a posting issue resolved.

[webspinner]

No, I haven't been slacking off, even though I haven't posted pictures in a few days. Posting pictures of each layer of varnish is about as interesting as, well, as watching paint dry.

I've scribed and cut the pieces for the end of the kitchen counter and the side of the back closet. Rather than wait until I have the closet apart to cut and start varnishing the new wood, I'm trying a backwards approach. Scribed the new wood along where the old stuff seems to sit in its aluminum channel.

Here's a picture of me with the compass in an approximation of my scribe position (in reality, the point and pencil would be in a line parallel to the ground) and below it is the new bulkhead after it was cut. I love how much lighter the birch is, and I love it even more after the varnish brings out the depth of the grain.





Here is a detail of the kitchen veneer.



And this is what my days have been mostly filled with: varnishing inside the trailer, where I can keep the work warm and relatively dust free. The long piece on the kitchen cabinet will be the underside of the cabinets over the back closet. Also: the closet side is resting on the back bed, the kitchen tambour is dry enough to sit on its side on the floor. It supports the two pieces that will go at the base of the closet. So many pieces of wood! And I haven't even started cutting out the pieces that will make up the new desk.

[vswingfield]

Looking good!

The birch is going to be really pretty. I'd finish it clear, myself. It would brighten up the interior a lot.

I'll be following your progress.

[webspinner]

I am finishing it clear. With new VOC regulations going into effect in California, the finish has varied from one section to the next. We've been working on the interior for about two and a half years. Every time I go to work on a new wall, vanity, dinette or whatever project, the formulation I used the previous time seems to be unavailable. So now I have some gloss spar varnish - the only oil based varnish I could find in November and I'm using that as a base so that I can do a finish coat with the last of my last quart of oil based Varathane which is apparently no longer being sold here. That way, the final finishes will sort of match, I hope.

[webspinner]

Here's one more picture of the kitchen counter, with nearly all the birch veneer in place.

[vswingfield]

The finished will come together with age. Color differences between panels will even out. Usually in a few months, not years.

It's gonna be great!

Inspired me. I just ordered some veneer samples.

[Roadrunner]

Barbie...nice job! I am about to start in on interior restoration of our "74" Tradewind. When we did our "78" we left the dated dark fake wood. This time around we are thinking of going light. On your galley bulkhead wall, are you replacing the entire wall or covering it with veneer? What holds the walls into the extrusion? Thanks...love the pictures...

Bob
Indiana, PA
TAC PA-5
WBCCI 4871

[webspinner]

Bob - last question first:

The walls are held into the extrusions by u-shaped spring clips that fit inside the channel and grab the wood with little inward facing barbs. It is possible to slide the wood sideways out of the channel but takes a surprising amount of force to pull it straight out of the channel.

Yes, we're replacing the entire galley bulkhead wall. The original is too chewed up to cover and the plywood looks better and is stronger. It's worth the work of dismantling everything, IMO.

When my husband cut the replacement walls for the bathroom, he pulled the original walls out and used them as a pattern. When I made the front dinette, I scribed the wood to fit the wall. With the closet side and kitchen bulkhead, I'm doing something different - scribing to fit the inside edge of the wall channel. I just don't have enough space working indoors in winter to work on large pieces of plywood inside a disassembled trailer interior.

We'll know within a couple of weeks whether my technique works or requires sanding and sailor's vocabulary in order to get it to fit. Stay tuned.

[webspinner]

Oops?

I could filter what I put on this thread and probably convince some people that I'm an experienced woodworker who knows what she's doing. But I think it's probably more helpful, not to mention more real, to show that this is really possible without knowing it all in advance.

Today's lesson is about wood veneer and wood color.

I didn't know squat about birch before we started working on the trailer. Then, looking at some other people's threads about projects, it looked like an available option for lightening up the inside of the trailer. Somebody mentioned that there was white birch and red birch and that the latter had some interesting figuring. That, my friends, was the extent of my research about birch.

Since then, I've discovered that some "white" birch is really pale, more like maple, which is lighter than I want as an overall effect in the trailer. I may or may not replace that upper kitchen cabinet end cap that glares whitely at me.

So when I went to order more veneer for the trim strips in the cabinet faces I was given the choice between "white birch" veneer and "red birch." I was at the lumber store and I din't have my record of what I ordered last time. I know I like the figuring on the wall next to our back dinette and that was "red birch" 1/8" plywood. So I ordered the "red birch" veneer.

It is red, very red. It is the color of the figuring that accents maybe 5% of the "red birch" ply, but it is "red" all over. It looks like cherry. It is not what I expected.

I could roll it back up and try to convince the lumber store to take it back. The problem with that is that I love the color. I don't want to let it out of my sight. Cherry is one of my very most favorite wood colors. My favorite loom is solid cherry. I love that warm auburn color. Birch that reminds me of cherry isn't going to go out of my life.

So now I am in the process of figuring out how to make "red" strips look like they belong in the trailer. Fortunately, I have enough of the "white" veneer left (which is apparently the color I ordered last time) to finish the horizontal trim to match what is already there. The vertical trim in the back room will be a "red" accent that will hopefully highlight the red figuring in the walls and cabinet doors.

If it really doesn't work, I'll redo it in "white" birch and use the rest of the red birch to make Christmas presents or something.

And when you see the inside of the Tin Pickle, or some other trailer sporting birch with darker areas, you can stroke your chin wisely and say "Hmm, red birch."

[ALANSD]

are you gluing the veneer in place while the walls are standing? I ask because in my 66 I need on wall redone in ash veneer, that was leak damaged. I really don't want to take the wall out to redo the covering. Can I do it that way? What glue...contact cement brushed on?

[perryg114]

Did you have trouble finding the birch in the right thickness to fit in the existing aluminum wall moulding?

Perry

[barts]

Originally Posted by ALANSD

are you gluing the veneer in place while the walls are standing? I ask because in my 66 I need on wall redone in ash veneer, that was leak damaged. I really don't want to take the wall out to redo the covering. Can I do it that way? What glue...contact cement brushed on?

Webspinner is removing the walls and replacing the plastic covered particle board with Real Wood (TM).

If the veneer is not loose or rotting, you can repair stains w/o removal.

- Bart

[barts]

Originally Posted by perryg114

Did you have trouble finding the birch in the right thickness to fit in the existing aluminum wall moulding?

Perry

The stuff webspinner is using is .230 rather than .250; this seems work fine in the clips. It's hard to find .250 plywood these days... esp. if you need it w/ two good faces.

- Bart

[webspinner]

Originally Posted by ALANSD

are you gluing the veneer in place while the walls are standing? I ask because in my 66 I need on wall redone in ash veneer, that was leak damaged. I really don't want to take the wall out to redo the covering. Can I do it that way? What glue...contact cement brushed on?

Our veneer isn't going on the walls. It is only being used to replace the strips of trim in the aluminum framing. Since those aluminum framing extrusions have channels on each side to hold the original laminate trim strips, the veneer strips just slide into place.

For the walls, we are removing the old walls completely, matching the curve by tracing the old wall or scribing the curve inside the trailer, and then putting the new, real wood walls in place of the old ones.

ALANSD - what kind of damage did the your veneer get? Is it discolored or is it bubbling away from the underlayment? Can you tell if the core is actual wood or is it pressboard/masonite type of stuff?

[vswingfield]

I'm guessing alansd means a bulkhead rather than an exterior wall.