Doors: Return to stain

[Fevvahz]

Firstly, let me apologise if this would be more appropriate in the 'Wood / Woodwork / Carpentry' section.

I've started stripping some doors in my 1930's semi. They're caked with thick paint, and I expected bare wood underneath. I decided to strip it back, and repaint them. However once I'd started to strip it back with a hot air gun, and noticing at how easily it stripped off, that below was a dark stain.

Click here for images.

Now I'm rather taken by this stain, and the wood grain and pattern showing theough, and would like to change my plans. However I'd got a bit of a conundrum. I'm wondering whats the best way to maintain the colour, but get a nice finish?

I've started sanding one door lightly with 120 grit, and the surface is quite uneven, more character than imperfections, perhaps due to the age of the wood, and its caused the high spots to return to the natural wood colour. I assume with the age of the doors, that its probably an oil based stain. So do you think if I just lightly keyed the surface then I'd be able to apply a suitable finish? I dont want to have to sand everything back to bare wood and start again, if thats the case I might as well paint them

 

[Robbie uk]

These doors are typical of many in the Cheshire area and looking at the pics i would say that they have been dipped before of paint and then stained, then painted back again.
The problem you have is as you say when rubbing the door down you are creating cleaner areas where the high spots are, these are difficult to touch up with stain without them being noticable. I doubt you would be able to strip these to raw wood again without dipping them again.

 

[Fevvahz]

These doors are typical of many in the Cheshire area and looking at the pics i would say that they have been dipped before of paint and then stained, then painted back again.

I'm fairly confident that they've not been dipped before, it'd be quite out of character compared to the rest of the house. It was built in 1928, has been in the same family since. I've got a huge stack of receipts from almost any building work and additions (including the bakelite handles on these doors in the mid '50s).

The problem you have is as you say when rubbing the door down you are creating cleaner areas where the high spots are, these are difficult to touch up with stain without them being noticable. I doubt you would be able to strip these to raw wood again without dipping them again.

I was hoping I'd not have to dip them to be honest. I'm concerned about the joints and the door twisting

 

[Robbie uk]

They would have had to do an awful lot of sanding to gett hem back to raw wood. These doors were not stained from new. Most were on local authority houses. You could try a sander on the flat parts then use nitromors or similar on the mouldings.

 

[Growler]

Everything Rob says but..... if you're determined to continue, as you've made quite a good job of the sanded door, you could just take out the white spots that are left, and then apply a stained varnish of your choice, making sure it's an oil based one as it will blend and soak in better.
It's the only way to find out really.

We used to do lots of that staining as it was all the rage once over and dulux weathershield mahogany was our weapon of choice.

 

[Growler]

Actually, I'm not too sure about my own advice there because in this instance, it may just be better to use a water based stain.

You'd have to try it and see.

 

[Fevvahz]

They would have had to do an awful lot of sanding to gett hem back to raw wood. These doors were not stained from new. Most were on local authority houses. You could try a sander on the flat parts then use nitromors or similar on the mouldings.

I'm not saying that they've been stripped at all, dipped or sanded. Im assuming they've been stained years and years ago. The more I think about it, the more I'm starting to think that it might be best to bite the bullet and have them dipped though.

 

[Robbie uk]

I have never seen these doors stained form new. They are a typical 1950s door that had plywood panels. I doubt that if the doors had not been dipped, that all the primer would have come out of the grain and in the mouldings. These doors do go quite dark after dipping and i think that is why a dark stain was used.

 

[nordberg73]

Are you sure that's stain? If you scrape it with a sharp edge, what happens? I ask as I had very similar in my house and assumed it was stain. The Dip-n-Strip guy told me is was something called "scumble" (or similar) and was very common in houses of that age (mine in 1920).

This scumble is like a coloured wax that was applied to "enhance" the grain of doors. To test if it is, just find a inconspicuous spot and scrape it. If you see fresh, clean wood, they can be dipped and stripped and they come up like new. If you scrape and you see more dark wood, your kind of stuck with that finish.....

 

[Growler]

I think you mean "scumble" nordberg73

 

[nordberg73]

I think you mean "scumble" nordberg73

Yes!! That's why I used the "" marks for artistic interpretation!!

 

[Fevvahz]

Well I thought I'd give it a go with some Ronseal quick dry varnish, walnut colouring, and I got this result:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sa4uUxCiTRokIGXvTq4NQg?feat=directlink

The main panel, on the right hand side is the stain. The frame on the left is the same product, but was Deep Mahogony, but it was way too red.

Im pretty pleased with it, so I'll see how it is on the mouldings etc once their properly cleaned up.

 

[joe-90]

It's awful - just paint them.

 

[Robbie uk]

It wont be Scumble, as Scumble was used over an oil based basecoat, not put straight on to raw wood. These doors had cheap ply panels and as such were only any good for painting. The house i am working on at the moment has these same doors that were dipped and waxed to good effect.

 

[Fevvahz]

It's awful - just paint them.

Straight to the point there Joe, I like that. I'm often accused of being harsh, but I like to think fair to boot. Now is this a case of aesthetic taste, being the colour choice or the part of the grain and texture you can see, or is it something more technical?