Door restoration

[Salty]

I’ve seen some talk recently about peeling veneer on cabinet doors. I thought I would put this together in hopes of helping others.
Reskinning cabinet, and for that matter, closet doors on the 80’s Avions is easy. This may work on earlier Avions, I’m not sure, it depends on if the doors are hollow or not.
Tools and supplies:
Oscillating saw
Palm sander and 80 grit paper.
Belt Sander* w/ 120 grit belt
Drill Press*
Hand drill*
MEK (Methyl-Ethyl Ketone)
Shop towel
Wood glue (Tite-Bond, Gorilla, Elmers …..)
Fascia board of choice 0.188 thick (Pine, Poplar, Pecan, Mahogany, Teak ….) cut to size.
Clamps

I’d recommend cutting your fascia boards to size prior to starting. In this way, this phase is a single day event. If you do an initial finish coat on the face of these, all the better.

Once you have removed the cabinet, lay it down on a flat surface and use the oscillating saw cut the heart out of the fascia. Stay about an inch to an inch a quarter away from the edge. This is important, as it allows you to snap off the remaining edge, easing the burden of sanding.

Once you have snapped off the edge, you’re left with the frame and the remnants of the fascia on the frame and center support. Sand these vestiges of the fascia off. I use a belt sander to start. I myself only use it briefly and if you don’t have a belt sander or are concerned about taking too much material away, you can skip the belt sander and go directly to the palm sander.

When sanding you will reach a point where you are into the old glue that was used to fasten the old fascia. This will clog up your sandpaper in a hurry. At this point switch to the MEK to remove the glue. Any wood remnants can be scraped off with a knife to finish up.

On these doors you may find that where the screws that hold the handle in place - on the backside there is a depression. I decided to put a piece of poplar in here to shore this up, so when the handles are installed, they are nice and tight and there is no possibility of damaging the door.

After the glue for this brace is has set, you can attach the new fascia. Wipe away any excess glue that squeezes out when you clamp it together.

Once the glue has dried, drill out the holes for the handles and finish. A drill press is useful here but not required. A steady hand with a hand drill perpendicular to the back of the door works fine to keep the spacing for the handle screws correct.

[Salty]

The final product

[Razorback]

Beautiful work!!!

[66Avion18]

Thanks for the detailed instructions. Great work.

Kevin

[jaggator61]

what color stain is on a 1984 30 footer do you know.
i have some staining to do and couldn't match it at lowes