HELP. How to finish wooden doors!

Elizabeth_T_2

My old pine kitchen was very orange and tatty............so OH carefully sanded all the doors down and they looked beautiful, not wanting to "spoil" them with varnish, we waxed them (Briwax) and they looked lovely, warm, clean, pale and fresh, but any little water spot or splash leaves a white mark, not very practical in (my) kitchen, so......... do we have to keep waxing for evermore, or does anyone know if there is anything that can be put on top of this finish, I daren't suggest resanding them again..........any suggestions would be appreciated thanks.

misgrace

Hi there, if you want protection for your wooden doors, then the best thing to do would be to give them a couple coats of Varnish, you can get Matt varnish, or if you want a slight sheen then get satin,if you decide to do this, then make sure you get 'oilbase'varnish, the quick drying stuff is okay for a shelf, but for doors skirtings etc always use oilbase.:D

a-builder-A1

dont put anything on top of wax except more wax!
if you go with the Idea above remove all wax with oooo gauge wire wool and and white spirit and wash with sugar soap and rinse thoroughly

Elizabeth_T_2

Thanks for the advice.......not sure quite what to do now..........having put wax on, should we keep building the coats up, will this stop white marks appearing, or should we cut our losses, get out the white spirit and wire wool and varnish the lot.....I want a practical kitchen! Thanks again.

cattie

Once you've waxed wood you do need to keep feeding the wood with wax periodically.

If you felt most of the wax has now been completely absorbed & none really remains on the surface you could try an experiment with varnish on the inside of one of the doors to see what the result would be by just varnishing over the polished finish.

The wire wool & white spirit suggestion is the best for a long term, less hassle
solution though.

a-builder-A1

just had a thought (untested) try a car wax????????

ariba10

Go to a good woodshop and they will advise you.

We put a good quality wax on our doors nine years ago with 0000 steel wool (Several coats) and they are now as good as new.

John_3:16

I have put Varnish on top of wax. In fact I used to do it on furniture I made. I did it by accident once and found that the varnish bonbed with the wax, you have to use oil based varnish. it gives a slightly silky sheen. try it on a small part of you doors out of site if poss and see how it looks.It will take longer to dry but it can be done.

In future You could varnish first then with very fine wire wool rub wax in and buff to a finnish

Elizabeth_T_2

Thank you all for the advice, I hadn't thought of car wax, might give that a go, I had tried shoe polish wax as I thought that would be waterproof, but it wasn't, failing that I think we will varnish over the top (assuming the test bit I will do first looks ok)..........so just when we thought we had finished we start again!......oh well, such is life!! Thanks again all.