Cabinet Refinishing

[Rat Pack]

Looking to see if I can get some help on refinishing the cabinets in our 58 Overlander. The entire kitchen woodwork has been painted and needs to be stripped and refinished. Any "how to" threads to direct me to or advice on how to proceed. Are the cabinets difficult to remove? A newbie needs some advice. Thanks to all that respond. Please see my newly posted pics.

[richard77]

hi,
I could'nt find your pics, but..
It all depends on the look you want. You can strip the doors and frame with paint stripper or have them dipped ( dipping my raise the ply layers tho, not recommended). The doors anc be removed to be stripped, sanded and sprayed or brushed. spraying will give you a bettter finish. Min wax makes a poly acrylic finish and it comes in sm spray cans as well as qts and gallons. It is waterbased and easy to use. It is very similar to the finish I use for high end cabinets and furniture. Working with the doors removed is easy work, the hard part is the frames as the work has to be done in place. Depending on your taste, and the condition of the frame, you may want to paint the frames . To maintain the natural wood can be done, it just taakes lots of work. The doors could also be replaced with new doors for a reasonable amount using baltic birch plywood. or a hardwood veneer plywood (actually a veneer on MDF)
hth
Richard

[Fyrzowt]

Someone with more experience jump in here, but I've done some reading about gel stains. It sounds like they do a good job of covering. My PO used it in our '72 and it looks good, but may depend on the look you are after. It would definately be cheaper and easier to try a section and see what kind of results you get, and if you don't like it, go ahead with the plan to strip.
Dave

[moogie32]

Originally Posted by Rat Pack

Looking to see if I can get some help on refinishing the cabinets in our 58 Overlander. The entire kitchen woodwork has been painted and needs to be stripped and refinished. Any "how to" threads to direct me to or advice on how to proceed. Are the cabinets difficult to remove? A newbie needs some advice. Thanks to all that respond. Please see my newly posted pics.

Welcome to the forums, Rat Pack. I am in the process of refinishing the interior on my '67 Safari too and am having good success by sanding off the old finish, beginning with 60 grit and working my way up through 220. I should warn you that the veneer is very thin and you need to be careful not to burn through it - I had been advised not to use a power sander to accomplish this but it has not been a problem for me. Don't know if veneer thickness is different between years, but I'd think if there is any, mine would be thinner since my coach is 8 years newer. Check out my thread "67 Safari renovation" to see comments and details - I also talk about my trials and tribulations of interior removal...also go through the forum archives and read what others have done. This forum is a font of information! Good luck, Diane

[plowboy]

Check out the threads on refinshing you'll find lots of info on various methods and products there. As for removing the cabinets , I don't think it's necessary unles you need to update appliance or redo plumbing.

Hello Fyrzowt we're just down the road from you'all! (Atascadero)

[Rat Pack]

Apologizes in not making the pic more accessible. Take alook at the cabinets....less wood than I thought.

[muddy_hollow]

Originally Posted by Rat Pack

Apologizes in not making the pic more accessible. Take alook at the cabinets....less wood than I thought.

The beds, the sides of sink cabinets and seperation panels are made out of birch ply and the birch veneer is very thin. Also, the cabinet doors and drawer fronts are birch bly.

The door side cabinets are made out of birch ply on the sides and the fronts face frames are solid birch. The face frames of the sink cabinet and the forward edges of the seperation panels are made out of solid birch as well.

You could use a good paint striper to remove the paint and hopefully it is latex based. If not, you'll have a great deal of scrubing and sanding to remove it. You'll have to be very careful with the birch ply because the veneer is very thin, everything was treated with a varnish yet it will not protect it from agressive sanding.

The upper cabinets are made out of 1/8 birch ply that has been bent and coated with Zolatone. Even when you strip the paint, you'll still have to get through the zolatone. I just did mine and it was a b*tch to get off and took a belt sander to do it.

I'm working on refacing my cabinets and I tend to be very handy. My plan is to reface the bend, upper cainets, four drawer base with new 1/8 birch ply and applied with west epoxy. I'll do the same for the upper cabinets. The face frames will be sanded and refinished. The one cabinet that was in crap shape was the sink cabinet, so I'll rebuild with new birch. My goal is to reface and build new so all the cabinets are the same color. I expect several months of evening work.

I've attached a pic of my interior and it looks great, but the bottoms of the cabinets were water stained. I think you need to consider why the PO painted the cabinets. My thought is because of water damage or stains. Having said that you might save yourself a GREAT deal of work by repainting.

HTH,

Doug

[richard77]

Ahh, I found the pics after I posted, thanks tho. Hmm, lots of paint on there! As mentioned, the veneer is Very thin. Sanding or stripping - you run the risk of messing up the veneer. If you replace one that you screwed up, it will be hard to match the existing doors. If it were me, I would build new doors from baltic birch ply ( no edge treatment required , no voids) or birch ven/mdf. Overlay 1/8 birch ven panels on ends of cabinets, front and sides of beds and the partitions ( this iis the only tricky part, you'll need to make cardboard templates) I would paint the face frames, either matching or contrasting colour. I would also replace the curved pieces with birch panels too. This can be done with 2 panels , formed to a slightly less radius, than existing door, then clamped and glued ( I can send a sketch if needed) Please do not buy your birch at a big box store as the quality is poor, interior voids, plugs etc. Buy from a pro hardwood supplier. A good wood shop could build you new doors in less than a day. You could DIY very easily with a table saw and an orbital sander.
Richard
my very old, not updated woodworking site www.cabnetguy.com