Instead of steel wool for a final buffing, I tried a sanding sponge. It did a good job but I think light pressure with steel wool would have been just fine too.
Here they are wet.
While those dried I went back to the dinette floor.
First order of business, cut the pedestal hole. I simply ran the utility knife blade around the plywood hole and lifted out the plug.
Here with the protective ring flange in place. This piece is dark bronze, with two coats of spray on clear coat. Even so, it may well get chipped or dinged by the pedestal. I may have to do something more with it in the future. But we'll start out by being careful.
Once I got the board back in place, and the pedestal pushed down square around the floor mount, I "felt it for sturdy", "eyeballed it for plumb" and "chose a primer head screw with a brass upholstery washer for visual appeal".
I may change the screw head color later, but I had these on hand and thought an anti-corrosive screw might appear better for longer and shows up well for a sub-conscious reminder "here's what you remove to access the basement".
I was screwing through the raised dinette floor piece into a 3/4" wide cleat. So I measured 3/8" back from the vertical surfaces and placed the screw out just a little more, to gain distance for an angle on the screw. That eased driving it and will assist future removal.
As you remember, the corners are thicker with the gathered rug material, so I just placed screws in the middle of each side. That pulls them downward from the bridging effect and secures the table platform from shifting. The pedestal feels real good.
And I don't care HOW level you get your RV, the table is always going to be slightly off level on a single pedestal. It's much more important to me that it is seated sturdy around the mounts. That's why they make flat bottoms on coffee cups and beer cans, so your table doesn't have to be exactly level. But I'd wager the level will be better than not.
Once done with that little project I decided to experiment with hardware. I found an extra, and lower quality condition hinge. Then I found the worst condition handle. These two items would be my guinea pigs.
If my counting is correct, I need 23 handles. Imagine that! 23 doors in this little camper! That's 23 for the PLANNED doors. And I'm now seriously planning a pop-off door over the new "openings" I've made, and "am" making elsewhere. So I need 23 handles. And I HAVE 23 handles - exactly. No more - no less. And the 23rd handle was this test subject handle that was kind of mangled. Flattened bent and re-straightened, poorly I might add. It was kind of a wavy straightening and it was quite apparent.
So using the hammer and anvil portion of the bench vice I tapped at the mangled handle in different directions and held it along side a good handle and reshaped it to a very suitable piece.
Then I steel-wooled the two pieces and sprayed bronze paint over them. I let the paint tack up slightly, then wiped the pieces down with a lacquer thinner moistened cloth and here's the result.
We loved the look, and it is exactly as we had expected and hoped. So now to get busy on the rest. If you look close at the hinge you'll notice the film on the bright brass flat surfaces that I was talking about on a previous day. I think that film is a factory protective finish.
I washed these things in hot soapy water, then a mineral spirits soak, then a rinse with hot water. Today I'll finish the cleaning and get the painting done on them.
I found the fastest and best cleaning method, including a final pre-paint polishing, was a wire brush on the hinges, and the wire wheel on the handles.
