General Boards > Redecorating and Updating your Motorhome

Cabinet Wood

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Rick Daniels:
I have removed what appears to be the original heavy tube televisions in both the living and bed rooms.  I have replaced them with flat screens.  Now I must modify and replace the original fabric covered frame.  I am not going to cover the new frame with fabric. I have searched this forum for information on the type of wood used by Beaver in my 1999 Marquis.  I know I have read, somewhere on this forum, information as to the type of wood used but cant find it again.  Anyone know what type of wood was used, or even better the stain used on that wood? I have attached a picture taken before the television and frame was removed.  Thanks for any help.

David T. Richelderfer:
Your coach's interior wood appears to be the same as ours.  I was told ours is cherry wood with mappa burl veneer glued on the outside centers.  For a look at ours, please reference this website.  Note: three of the interior pictures near the end but before the floorplan picture are not from our coach.

http://www.dreamfindersrv.com/RV/7625800/BIG_PICS.htm

This group of pictures comes from when the previous owner had it for sale in 2011 or so.

Edward Buker:
Rick,

Beaver used a variety of woods depending on what was originally ordered. Based on your photo it looks like walnut with Mappa Burl veneers. It is a little hard to tell in the photo. If the dark wood has a reddish hue then it is likely cherry, if darker brown likely walnut.

If it is cherry or even walnut after sanding and finishing (I use 3 to 4 coats of Minwax Urethane Gloss Varnish for a reasonable match) those woods will look lighter in color. They will darken with age as light hits them. You can place the wood that is ready to finish out in sunlight for several days and it will help some but age will slowly blend the hue. One problem is that there are grains in the wood that do not allow for a smooth varnish finish. There are products made to fill the grain that you sand before the surface is coated with a clear finish. You may want to experiment a bit with the products and finish with a piece of scrap until you are happy if it matters to you. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

Gerald Farris:
Rich,
Your coach looks like the cabinets are walnut, and the cabinet doors have a walnut frame with a cherry center and Mappa Burl veneer in the middle. I think that all of the wood is natural finish and there was no stain used on your cabinets. To verify this, you can contact Jim Sizemore or Greg Fulton at RV Outfitters in Bend. They do many Beaver remodels every year, and their work looks like factory installed cabinetry, so they know exactly how to make it look right.

Gerald     

Doug Allman:
Rick, For the faces and the door frames it is walnut. The inserts are cherry with the center burl. Most all coach's are experiencing the burl cracking and peeling as the burl was laminated to cardboard backing and then glued to the cherry center panels, by either Safari or            .
When we refurbished our interior we removed all the burl from the cabinets and ceiling panels. All the cabinets had full cherry inserts and we refinished them like the walnut with high gloss. Heat gun loosened the burl and then had to sand to remove glue residue.
We replaced the burl in the ceiling with cork as we installed a new cork floor throughout over an in floor heat system using the aqua hot for the hot water source.
When refinishing the cherry or the walnut frames we used the Min Wax Helmsman Spar Urethane high gloss in spray cans. We learned from a high end boat trim shop how todo this as this is their method using spray cans.

Between each coat we wet sanded using 600 on first two coats, then on the subsequent coats we used 1200 and continued the coats until we were satisfied with the appearance. This was sometimes 5-7 coats total to get the appearance we wanted.
Wet sand and let it dry well, tack off and then spray until you get a wet look coat, not too much and not too little, but you can never hurt the process because you always can wet sand it down and get back to where it will be right back to where you want it.

As you build the coats and wet sand you will get the sipes in the grain to fill and smooth out. Sand first two coats until the wood gets smooth as you are mostly filling the sipes and prepping the wood for the final coats. Do not worry about breaking thru the coat and having raw wood again. Having it be baby bottom smooth will make your final coats look like Beaver did it.

Now, all walnut is not the same! From different areas it is grown in it will be lighter or darker and grain will be larger or smaller due to the mineral content in the soil. Even though the original walnut has darkened due to UV it still does not come close to most walnut you will buy at hardwood supplier today. I resorted to using more of the cherry for our new cabinet work, Samsung frig, all new valances, new drop down TV frame, etc.

I reused what walnut I could that I removed from coach but most was not long enough to do what we wanted.  To refinish the reused I sanded all the finish off, which is a very hard finish and an air sander definitely helped, this finish as is in most coach's today is beginning to get cloudy. It is not available anymore.

I did apply a cherry stain to the cherry just to modify it somewhat but it still will have to darken with UV to get even with existing from manufacturer. Had some in two years now and it is blending in well.

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