Taito cabinet disassembly -- how do I do it (or should I)?

[Triangel7D]

I hope this isn't a dumb question. I'm refurbishing an old, semi-beat-up classic wood Taito cabinet. I wanted to disassemble it so I could sand and paint it. I have it on the floor on its back, and I've taken out most of the bolts, but it doesn't seem to want to come apart. Are these not supposed to come apart? Is there something I'm missing?

[javeryh]

Knievel claims they come apart in THIS thread.  I sure hope so - I picked one up a few weeks ago and I'm hoping to do something similar to it...  Maybe yours just needs a gentle tap with a mallet or something?

[Triangel7D]

Knievel claims they come apart in THIS thread.  I sure hope so - I picked one up a few weeks ago and I'm hoping to do something similar to it...  Maybe yours just needs a gentle tap with a mallet or something?

javeryh -- Hm. Why don't you tap yours with a mallet first and tell me how it turns out? Kidding. I've put so much time into this thing, I don't want to screw it up coming to the end. My problem is I'm pretty much doing this solo and it's nearly impossible to move the thing from my basement (with thin 1920's doors and a raised stone threshold) to my garage by myself.

Thanks for the pointing that thread out. I looked through the first page, but didn't see the comments at the end. It looks like knievel was able to take out the front, but there's no evidence he took out the sides. Looking at the one I had, the 45-degree wood things in the inside corner edges may be glued like scotthh mentioned.

I'm now wondering if it's worth replacing some of my bolts with flathead screws like knievel did. I'm not going to try laminate, but at least I don't have to design my sideart around bolts anymore.

[Triangel7D]

Okay, I was tempted -- I did a little tapping, and that sucker is SOLID. I'm thinking Knievel's were so beat up that they came apart. He did say this here:

Yea I did it after I took all the bolts out of the cabinet. It was so loose I could seperate the sides enough to slip it out. Here's a before/after shot..

That's not happening with mine. Mine looks to be in much better condition, so maybe all the glue and staples are still intact. javeryh -- what is your cabinet's condition?

[javeryh]

My cabinet is pretty beat up but I haven't done anything to it so I don't know how easy or hard it will be to take apart.  If you haven't sanded or painted yet what's the worst thing that could happen with a nice swing of the rubber mallet?     If you put a dent in it on the inside you could always bondo it out.  Also, if all you want to so is sand and paint it should be relatively easy to do even with the cabinet together (that's how most people do it!).

[RayB]

I would assume cabinet pieces are heavily glued together as well as the bolts, screws and staples, so you risk damaging things. Plenty of us have refinished full cabinets without taking them apart.

[Triangel7D]

Thanks guys. It's decided -- not taking it apart. Don't want to risk it. I don't have a 1/10th of knievel's skills (my friend who is a fine furniture maker helped me with my CP), so I don't want to risk it.

It's also nice to know the whole thing will hold together while all the bolts are removed, so I can strip the paint off of them and spray paint the heads.

javeryh -- tell me what you do with yours in the end.

[javeryh]

Good luck.  It's going to be a while for me.  I have 2 other projects I have to finish before I even touch the Taito.