06-15-2017, 10:52 PM
My experience with fixing veneer cracked this way was pretty much as Russ stated, it looked decent for a year or more and then cracked again. Fortunately this was on on the bottom towards the back on a Canadian RCA-Victor model A-20 from 1939-40. I made the repair when I was 16 back in high school, which was before the internet so there wasn't really wasn't anyone with cabinet/furniture restoration experience to ask about whether it was the right way to repair it.
One day I may go back and re-restore that cabinet, but now I have three of them and the cabinets on the more recent ones either don't have this problem or it is limited to the final 3/4'' of the curve near the rear of the cabinet. The A-20 cabinets are basically made out of laminated veneer with some solid sections such as the top and the bottom, so there isn't a lot of structure in the curved areas on the bottom. On the sister model, the RCA-Victor A-23 the cabinets have blocks in these areas for re-enforcement so it isn't often that they will suffer damage on the bottom curve on the sides, the A-20s do not because the spacing between the chassis and the inside of the cabinet doesn't really leave much room for it. What I may tray is gluing some extra layers of veneer on the inside of the curves to stiffen them up.
Regards
Arran
One day I may go back and re-restore that cabinet, but now I have three of them and the cabinets on the more recent ones either don't have this problem or it is limited to the final 3/4'' of the curve near the rear of the cabinet. The A-20 cabinets are basically made out of laminated veneer with some solid sections such as the top and the bottom, so there isn't a lot of structure in the curved areas on the bottom. On the sister model, the RCA-Victor A-23 the cabinets have blocks in these areas for re-enforcement so it isn't often that they will suffer damage on the bottom curve on the sides, the A-20s do not because the spacing between the chassis and the inside of the cabinet doesn't really leave much room for it. What I may tray is gluing some extra layers of veneer on the inside of the curves to stiffen them up.
Regards
Arran