Making veneer lie flat

Q. My 1973 wood door has a wood veneer covering, and the veneer is cracking and splitting. In some cases the Wood Veneer has expanded, and is overlapping other veneer that adheres properly to the door. It tends to create round ridges, a little like a corrugated roof. How can I get it to lie flat?

PAUL MALINARIS, Groton

A. You could cut the overlapping part of the veneer, then glue the rest of it down. Use an adhesive caulk, and put weight on it until the caulk sets. For the round ridges, all you can do is wet the veneer to allow it to lie flat. Since the veneer is wet, use Gorilla glue, which requires you to dampen the wood anyway.

Veneer is used because the core wood is pretty awful. And if the damage is quite extensive, I say the heck with the door, which is 35 years old and should be retired. Get a new wooden door that is not veneered and it will be good for 200 years.

Q. I took off the rusted handles from an old bureau, sanded and painted it, and it came out very nicely. The handles really looked OK, so I wanted to paint them, too. I sanded off most of the rust. How can I get all the rust off so I can spray-paint the handles?

PAT CAVANAUGH, Harwichport

A. You don't have to get all the rust off. You can use a product named Rust Reformer (there are other brand names) that contains phosphoric acid, which turns the rust black and makes it paintable.