Protecting stripped doors

Wizwoo

Hello,
We stripped the paint off our internal doors (1930's house) a while back and still haven't done anything else with them.

What should we do?

We did try waxing one but it seemed to take forever and really didn't look or feel any different. Have thought about using a satin varnish on them - can this be done straight onto the bare wood?

Any suggestions on what would look good and protect them?

Thanks,
Ww

kev1n3

Firstly, slightly rub doors down with 180 sandpaper. Apply a even coat of satin varnish. Leave 24 hours. slightly rub down again till smooth as the applied varnish will have pulled out the grain of the wood. apply a second coat of varnish. Your doors will have a sheek semi gloss look. Re-varnish every 3 to 4 years.

Hope this helps.

Kev ( 30 years as a decorator)

robwend

i just waxed mine but caused problems with warping when temputure changed, good old varnish will stop that being a worry aswell

Beverley

I waxed my oak doors but it took loads of work rubbing them down after. Is it OK to use a clear polyurethane varnish on top of the wax?.

I also have a bookcase and coffee table each made of oak and my skirting boards and architraves are also oak. Is it OK to varnish these - the furniture came with a recommendation to oil it twice a year - would varnishing protect the wood or should I make sure I oil them as recommended.

Thanks in advance

Beverley

kev1n3

I would no way varnish over wax or grease. Your finished varnished timber will look terrible if you do.

As a high class decorator for 30 odd years I would advise anyone who is going to use varnish on wooden door's, skirting etc is to be sure the timber is rubbed down well, dusted off, and free from any form of grease or wax. I always use Dulux yacht varnish when varnishing, it’s a little more expensive that normal varnish but then again it is used to varnish the underside of Yacht’s so is long lasting.

robwend

kev1n3 wrote:

I would no way varnish over wax or grease. Your finished varnished timber will look terrible if you do. ROBWEND <not at all, it looks no diffrent, you obviously done something wrong when you done yours, like did not allow the doors to dry off after waxing

would advise anyone who is going to use varnish on wooden door's, skirting etc is to be sure the timber is rubbed down well, dusted off, and free from any form of grease or wax.robwend<if you read the write up you would have read he already has waxed the doors, so wouldnt be able to free from wax now.unless you have a spare year

robwend

if in any doubt read the tinxxxxxx

FirstClassMale

I swear by using just linseed oil on bare wood. It is easy to use, cheap and looks great.

A freind who is a furniture restorer introduced me to it. I have used it for everything from doors and skirtings to the new wood of my log cabin outside. The great thing is that you do not have to finish scraping off the little bits of paint left on the door before applying. Once it is on, it softens the paint and you can pick them off whenever you like then just reapply a bit of oil.

It couldn't be easier to apply. put some on a rag and wipe it liberally over the surface. Make sure most of the wood is covered but not so much that there are big runs. Wait about 5 to 10 minutes for it to soak into the surface. Then take a clean cloth over the whole piece to buff it up. I found that the best thing to use is an old holey sock over my hand.

Use raw not boiled linseed and do two coats. I got a 5 litre container for about £12 and after oiling up all the wood in my old flat, quite a bit of our new hallway and a huge garden log cabin. Theres still some left

kev1n3

robwend wrote:

kev1n3 wrote:

I would no way varnish over wax or grease. Your finished varnished timber will look terrible if you do. ROBWEND <not at all, it looks no diffrent, you obviously done something wrong when you done yours, like did not allow the doors to dry off after waxing

would advise anyone who is going to use varnish on wooden door's, skirting etc is to be sure the timber is rubbed down well, dusted off, and free from any form of grease or wax.robwend<if you read the write up you would have read he already has waxed the doors, so wouldnt be able to free from wax now.unless you have a spare year

I was talking in general terms and yes i know the doors were coated in wax.
(big mistake) I do not profess to know all but i am a time served decorator and NEVER do i get complaints from my customers. BTW. you wouldnt need a year to remove the wax, a local restorer would acid dip them for around £5 a door which will remove any paint, wax, dirt etc.

Beverley

kev1n3 wrote:

Originally Posted by kev1n3
I would no way varnish over wax or grease. Your finished varnished timber will look terrible if you do.

robwend wrote:

not at all, it looks no diffrent, you obviously done something wrong when you done yours, like did not allow the doors to dry off after waxing
would advise anyone who is going to use varnish on wooden door's, skirting etc is to be sure the timber is rubbed down well, dusted off, and free from any form of grease or wax.robwend if you read the write up you would have read he already has waxed the doors, so wouldnt be able to free from wax now.unless you have a spare year.

kev1n3 wrote:

I was talking in general terms and yes i know the doors were coated in wax. (big mistake) I do not profess to know all but i am a time served decorator and NEVER do i get complaints from my customers. BTW. you wouldnt need a year to remove the wax, a local restorer would acid dip them for around £5 a door which will remove any paint, wax, dirt etc.

So far I've seen advice that suggests
- I just varnish on top of the wax
- have the doors dipped/stripped and then coat them with yacht varnish
- coat them with linseed oil

I am looking to preserve my doors and furniture (already waxed), and architraves and skirtings (so far untreated) for as long as possible but also the idea of using oak as opposed to a cheaper wood was that I wanted to show off the wood.

What do I do to get them all looking the same and protect them? I realise that waxing (as recommended at timber merchants) was not the best way but what do I do now?

Beverley (Confused of Lancs)

FirstClassMale

If you're keen on the idea of oiling then the other advantage is that there is no need for extra sanding. Use paint thinners (again, I buy this in bulk but I saw that Lidl were doing tins for about £1) to take off the wax and any grease on the surface then just slap on the oil. It's easy its cheap and it's environmentally freindly (maybe not the thinners) as Linseed is a natural product.