Veneered drawer edge repair?

[Fred Voorhees]

I am attaching three pics of a drawer that would represent, I think, three others besides the one in the photo. My insurance rep came to my home two weeks ago asking if I could do a little magic on the drawers. As you can see in the photos, the drawers are from an old dresser and the veneered face is chipped around the edges. He first was curious if I could simply veneer the entire face. I told him that it would be a bear to get the old veneer off to do that and besides, it would be almost impossible to find veneer like that to match the rest of the dresser. I told him maybe what I could do was to machine a rabbit into the edge all around the face of the drawers, going only as deep into the field as needed to eliminate the deepest chip. I only have so much depth to work with as far as going into the substrate. I can do a quarter inch at the most. The substrate looks like true wood and not ply. I have a rabbiting bit set that is practically new, so the cutters would be sharp. I am just concerned about doing further damage to the face than is already there. Mostly concerned with doing more chipping. Is this a concern I should have? I can climb cut the corners that I normally route "off of" to try to prevent any chipping at the corners. Other than that, not sure what else to do and honestly, I have not worked with veneer all that much to understand much about it. I am thinking of a roughly 1/4 x 1/4 inch rabbit and gluing walnut strips in and sanding flush, however the one measurement will be determined by the depth of chipping into the field of the face. Thoughts?

I have rubbed some mineral spirits onto the face of this drawer to show its detail better.
drawer1 (500 x 375).jpg

drawer2 (500 x 375).jpg

I also plan on trying to re-glue some of the dovetail joints. Not sure how that is going to go since I do not wish to take them completely apart and I am afraid that old glue within them will prevent any real new glue strength once cured.

drawer3 (500 x 375).jpg

[Matt Day]

Tough call. I know you're asking for suggestions on how to fix it, but unless it has sentimental value I think I would either beneer over everything or simply paint it all. Looks pretty chewed up.

[Lee Schierer]

This is a case where making tape (not painters tape) will be your friend. Clean the surface of all dirt and cover the planned cut area with masking tape. Make your cut and pull the tape off toward the cut.

You might want to consider making the rabbet with a table saw and fine tooth cabinet makers blade and a fresh zero clearance insert to support the veneer as it is cut face down on the TS. I would still use masking tape. Make sure the blade is sharp and clean.

I would put a strip of cock bead molding in the rabbet and stain it to match as close as you can to the existing veneer. Miter the corners. Here is a link to a video showing being done on assembled drawers. Cock beading Drawers