# Staining prehung alder doors



## higgins24 (Jul 21, 2011)

I am going to stain 9 new, prehung, knotty alder wood doors. I assume I should use a prestain conditioner before staining the doors? Do you place the door on padded saw horses and do the edges first? Then contours along panels. Panels next and then rails.
Should you stain the door jamb first?

What is best to finish the stained doors with before installing? 

Thanks, Jim


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

i like to finish the door b4 hanging. i do the doors and jams apart. depending on how many im doing determines how i do them.
if im doing two, like entry doors, i set them up with brackets that i made, first pic.
two other ways i do them standing upright, on two strips of 1x like this / \ / \ / \ / \, and two strips on top. you need space for this, and attention to the run factor when finishing. the other way is to take 1x4 board wider than the door and cut a reverse dado in them. then screw them to the top and bottom, rest them on saw horses. cutting the boards wider allows doors to be rolled over to do the other side without messing up the doors edge. then after both sides are done they can be stacked away from the work area to do more. a little tip is to put screws on the edge of the 1x4 so when you stack them the 1x wont stick together. also make the dado that screws to the door thinner than the door. the purpose is to keep the door away from the wood.

i allways do panels first then the straights. for knotty alder def condition first. i also prefure a oil gel stain. gives more workability time and helps with the blotchies. i use mineral spirits for my conditioner.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I prefer to finish separate from the jamb. I install a 16d nail at the center of each end, and hang on sawhorses. A nail at each end at the bottom of the door is used after it is rotated. Those nails pull out and push in. They just act as a stop. The whole door can be finished during the same finishing session.












 







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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

i used to use nails but taking the risk of a nail bending and door falling is not worth it imo. not to mention a nail wont give any distant from the horse to spin door without hitting legs. i made these to make life simple. specially with heavy entry doors.


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

this pic might help explain my earlier post


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## higgins24 (Jul 21, 2011)

jack warner said:


> i like to finish the door b4 hanging. i do the doors and jams apart. depending on how many im doing determines how i do them.
> if im doing two, like entry doors, i set them up with brackets that i made, first pic.
> two other ways i do them standing upright, on two strips of 1x like this / \ / \ / \ / \, and two strips on top. you need space for this, and attention to the run factor when finishing. the other way is to take 1x4 board wider than the door and cut a reverse dado in them. then screw them to the top and bottom, rest them on saw horses. cutting the boards wider allows doors to be rolled over to do the other side without messing up the doors edge. then after both sides are done they can be stacked away from the work area to do more. a little tip is to put screws on the edge of the 1x4 so when you stack them the 1x wont stick together. also make the dado that screws to the door thinner than the door. the purpose is to keep the door away from the wood.
> 
> i allways do panels first then the straights. for knotty alder def condition first. i also prefure a oil gel stain. gives more workability time and helps with the blotchies. i use mineral spirits for my conditioner.


Thanks for the information; very helpful. Jim


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