# Refinishing Exterior Oak Door



## Sanding (Sep 12, 2010)

Hi,

I have just taken a week vacation to refinish my front door, and have run into several issues. I have some questions and would greatly appreciate your advice so I can remove this from my honey do list.

How can I correct the below issues please?

Splintered wood corrected using wood filler with wood. sanded down, and now stain not consistent IMG 8366 before, IMG 8377 after

Darkness in wood that won't go away in upper left corner (IMG 8357)

I have applied 2 coats of Minwax stain and still have white discoloration in center between panels (8375)

My wife wants a darker color. Do I have to sand with 220 for adhesion before applying darker color since only 2nd coat of stain, and no Helmsman Spar Urethane applied yet?

Thank you so much for your help.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*This thread and other threads here will help*

Found by searching "refinish oak door" 
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f8/refinish-oak-door-11694/
This is my door that I refinished recently, with chemical stripper, about 5 applications and then sprayed the red oak stain on after wiping many times with lacquer thinner. For an easier to use oil finish, Penofin is a C-man recommended finish if you don't want to use a varnish as I did. It solves the problem of yearly maintenance. Just reapply the Penofin and let dry. :thumbsup: bill


----------



## sketel (Sep 15, 2010)

*Maintenance is key*

First off, it is tough to get rid of this kind of discoloration. You probably know not to try and sand them out as the veneer on engineered door components is pretty thin. Some sanding is ok. Get rid of any finish with lacquer thinner and then try rubbing on the water stains with denatured alcohol. Since you are going with a darker stain, that could help blend things but just always keep in mind any color difference will be accentuated when you put on your finish. 
Next issue: it looks from the photos that this is pretty much an unprotected entry. If this is the case, your fix might not last long. Yearly maintenance is minimum on unprotected wood doors. And try and squirt some silicone between your sill and jamb and anywhere else along the bottom of the jamb that you can get to. If it were me I would seriously consider bondoing all the cracks, sand everything down smooth then paint. Al least the jambs. They look pretty far gone.


----------



## Just Bill (Dec 29, 2008)

I can see traces of the old finish in pics, stain will not work as long as there is still old finish. Strip with good stripper, but go gently with the scraper as suggested above. The trim is probaly solid oak, but the panels are likly veneer. Lowes has an orange stripper(forgot name) that has worked well for me, not as toxic as methylene chloride.

I suspect that either you got the finish off the dark areas and stain soaked in, or verse visa. But you need to strip everything and start over. Then seal with a marine poly. Minwax Helmsman is one.


----------



## Sanding (Sep 12, 2010)

Thank you for the input. There is a 6 foot coverage on the porch. I feel pretty confident that I removed all of the stain except above the door knob locations, and I did that after the picture I uploaded. I have come to the conclusion that the stripper isn't effective enough for my application so my multi-tool with sanding attachment seems to be doing the job along with the palm sander. I am not sure how to determine if the sidelight is a veneer or not, so I am assuming it is so I don't remove too much of the oak. Based on your response on the darkness accentuating the light blemish in the door, I will probably keep the same color and treat certain areas. 

It was suggested that I use wood bleach on the very dark areas of the sidelight to lighten the wood, and mix stain with wood-filler where the lower damage was. 

Will the door be inconsistent in color due to the previous application in comparison to when I re-stain the sidelight?

I am a novice at this, so I am treading very carefully.


Thanks again for the input.


----------



## sketel (Sep 15, 2010)

*blend it well before you finish*

I think I did not explain myself clearly in part of my above post. I was referring to the tendency that most finishes have of accentuating any imperfections in the stain job. For instance, if you stain the top half of the door completely and then do the bottom half, there will be a line that could be barely noticeable without finish but once the finish is on, it will become very apparent. A darker stain will help you blend everything together. Just remember to be very fastidious about getting everything to blend perfectly before you apply your finish. Sometimes you can blend problem areas by rubbing it with a rag soaked with stain and a little lacquer thinner. 
About using wood filler: Sometimes you need to use a slightly different shade of stain to properly match the stained door. So you have to have a test piece to see what the stain will look like on oak and mix stain with your wood filler to match that since you are going to be applying and sanding the wood filler before you stain the door.


----------



## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

this is my expertise. ive been refinishing entry doors for many yrs.lets start with the jam,,,,it looks like its laminated and is delaminating. its gone. paint is your only option, you should still strip it. the dark stain on the sidelight is not good. it could be bleached but since the jam should be painted, so should the side light.the door looks like it can be saved, depending on how much wood loss ( wrot ) is on the bottom.
strip the hole thig with jasco stripper. sand ( lightly on the door ) with 220 g paper. your gonna have to stain the door a darker stain than the golden oak it is now in order to get an even look witch will require toneing with a spray gun. fill cracks and problem area's with bondo then prime with a good primer sealer and paint. this is door i would recoment to replace. good luck


----------



## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

jack warner said:


> this is my expertise. ive been refinishing entry doors for many yrs.


It's a relief to know that suggestions are made from someone with an "expertise".



jack warner said:


> lets start with the jam,,,,it looks like its laminated and is delaminating. its gone. paint is your only option, you should still strip it. the dark stain on the sidelight is not good. it could be bleached but since the jam should be painted, so should the side light.the door looks like it can be saved, depending on how much wood loss ( wrot ) is on the bottom.


I'm sort of confused at this evaluation, as the jamb hasn't been determined to be "laminated". Jambs are solid wood in most all cases, and if there is more than one section of wood, it may be called "laminated" by someone outside of the building trades, but not in the sense of layered veneer thicknesses making up the thickness of the jamb.

This type of repair is very common in that stripping all finish from the wood, and then sanding to bare wood would be a start. For darkened areas, bleach could be used to lighten the area. For any rotted wood, or missing wood, shaped wood sections to fit make for a very unobtrusive repair. 

Once sanded, the entire door, framing and sidelight can be stained. Depending on how much maintenance can be dedicated to its upkeep, would determine what type of final finish would be applied. 

Sometimes I just ramble on, so excuse me.












 





.
.


----------



## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

very true, boards that are spliced together are called finger jointed and with stain grade matirial are always laminated. the theory of finger joining is to minimize worping. even if you jam is not laminated your going to have to remove splintered and pealing area's like u have.
now the problem is any wood filler you use is going to stain darker and with no grain, so after you will need to seal patch and do a bit of faux grain with stain.
now bleaching does not mean laundry bleach, its a 2 part process made for wood. play with it, your not gonna make things much worse. the only reason i recomend painting jam and sidelight is you have a tough task for little experience


----------



## Sanding (Sep 12, 2010)

*Exterior Oak Door*

Everybody,

Thanks for your responses. I ended up using wood bleach, and putty on the areas that had splitting,sanded down, applied 2 coats of varnish, and today the first coat of clear. The wife is happy with preliminary results, so I will apply a few more coats of clear, and then be done.
I will show pictures soon.

Thanks again.


----------



## Sanding (Sep 12, 2010)

Hi Folks,

Here are the pictures of the finished door. Thanks to all of you for your assistance.

I do have a few final questions. 

What is the best way to clean any spar urethane off of the stain glass? I tried the non-scratch scrubby, with mineral spirits but feel like it will scratch it. I also tried a razor blade to scrape it off.

Also how to remove the stain on the metal strip under the sidelight.

Thanks again.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Very Nice!*

Another treasure that has been resuscitated by the use of hard work, sage advice and determination...well I donno about the advice? :laughing: bill


----------



## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Sanding said:


> What is the best way to clean any spar urethane off of the stain glass? I tried the non-scratch scrubby, with mineral spirits but feel like it will scratch it. I also tried a razor blade to scrape it off.
> 
> Also how to remove the stain on the metal strip under the sidelight.
> 
> Thanks again.



The finish came out nice...looks good. You can use lacquer thinner to remove both. If not use acetone. If the metal strip is painted, it will remove the paint. Likewise, be careful around the wood. If the glass in the lite is colored instead of surface tinted, you're OK.












 









.


----------

