Originally Posted by
charley26
If it is not a special cabinet, I would strip the loose veneer off, sand the wood to remove glue remnants and then apply a good wax polish. From the photograph, it seems as if the damaged veneer is under the fold down top lid, so not on view at all times. The wood underneath the veneer may be beautiful too.
I agree with Charley. Since the bad veneer is underneath and you're just going to be using it to test treadles, I'd just take the remaining veneer off, sand it down, put some stain on if you don't like the lighter wood and call it done.