Help rejuvenating waxed doors

rose_ginger

A few years ago we bought laminate oak doors and had them waxed. Now they look really grotty. There are dark areas around door handles from fingers over time and dark areas where the dogs have sat against them. These are all from oil staining them I imagine.
There are also pen marks from the toddlers, but that is a different matter.

I really regret waxing them and wish they had been varnished. I don't know if I can bring back to the original colour and then varnish then. The doors have little lines in them so the wax won't be easy to remove here. Any advice appreciated.

blackgothic

wire wool go with the grain with white spirit and elbow grease. One thing i see even on the telly is people rubbing in wax on wood without first adding a finish wether it be one coat of thin varnish or french polish to stop grime and grease getting behind the wax and into the grain which causes horrible marks over time. The amount of people iv had to turn away that have wanted their furniture dipped and stripped thats just been waxed straight on to the timber, caustic wont remove it.

rose_ginger

thanks for the reply. Ours were waxed directly onto the wood by the joiner. Good to know that dipping won't help as I was considering going down that route. Thank you

Jonesya

Personally I wouldn't use wirewool - it breaks up as your using it and it will get stuck in the grain and the wax.