I am finally removing the ugly wood detailing on my interior doors from the 90’s and sanding to remove scratches. Not really sure what kind of wood it is. The door is hollow if that helps.. Any suggestions on what color & opacity stain to use? I was thinking semi solid opacity but I’m a little clueless. Would you put two coats of clear lacquer over top of the stain? Thanks so much in advance!
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Eleventy billion of those flat hollow core doors were made, and still are. They are Lauan. It's often called Phillipine mahogany, but it's not mahogany at all. They started pumping out those inexpensive doors in the mid 1950s.
I'll share what I did in the two houses I've owned with those exact doors. I took them all out and replaced them with new doors. My personal opinion is that putting in a lot of work to make them look better is just putting lipstick on a pig. I'm guessing you are going to deal with a lot of nail holes that will need filling, and that plywood veneer they used is very fragile. If the moulding is glued down, you're apt to lose a bunch of it. Then you'll have filling to do, and you won't be able to stain and clearcoat, just paint.
I apologize, this isn't answering your original question.
All of this sounds spot on lol We did manage to take all the “decorative” bits off without breaking the wood. I already sanded it down bare and had decided that I will fill the nail holes with color matched putty after staining. I’d love to just buy all new doors but it’s not at the top of our budget list right now so in the meantime I’m just gonna try to make these look decent haha Thanks for your response!
Another question.. would it be better to fill all the nail holes with wood filler and then use a gel stain? Would gel stain do okay over the filler? Hmmm
Gel stain is, more or less, paint. It really obscures the wood. Varnish stains likewise are closer to paint than a clear finish. They'd do a better job of hiding the issues on your doors.i really dislike them though.
Just an idea, but about 30-35 years ago Canadian Woodworker had an article where the author cut out parts of the centres and made various designs of panel doors, to be varnished or painted. I don't know if they go that far back on their website. I was going to do it but never did. The issue might be in one of the piles of projects to be done in the future, in one of my many hidey holes in the shop. I'll see if I can find it over the next few days and be more precise, though john_c2 might be more realistic.
I own a restoration shop & have been doing this work over 40 years. As noted the main door panel is Luan on this door however the moldings are Hemlock.
Our shop would strip the finish chemicaly, but you cannot buy the quality strippers that are no longer available to home owners since laws created by the Obama Admin. You may scrape the finish off using a cabinet scraper on the large flat surface and sand off the moldings finish by hand being careful not to deform them.
We use Famo Wood putty, birch should do to fill holes and take stain. Once the finish is off all of it and sanded you should treat the wood with a conditioner like Daly's Benite. If you do not do this and stain directly onto the hemlock, you will have a blotchy mess that will never be right again. I would suggest you buy a Dalys stain as well. We make our own stains from scratch materials but you will have to go with one off the shelf.
Next do your seal coat of clear and then if needed wipe / brush on another layer of stain if too light and spary your clear coat over the top to hold it in place. Do not brush this as the stain will move w/ the brush strokes and ruin the look.
For an exterior door we would use either a true marine spar varnish or a spar urathane sprayed into place. For an interior door you can use a spray on urathane or pre cat. Lacquer.
Sanding prep work is the most important part. Sanding marks will pick up stain and show prominently in the finish coat. We never go past 220 grit on raw wood since marks caused by 220 dont really show up in the finish. Philipine mahogany really shouldnt be that thin as long as you dont sand the finish off with 80 grit. While some say this was a cheap product The wood used on Chris Craft boats of the 1930'and on were this material. It was a common paneling, molding and trim in the construction industry as a premium product in its day. The trees must have been massive wth beautiful grain. Not what is currently used.
Best,
Brian
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, Brian! A huge help. So cool to finally know what it is made of too!