I need to refinish an pine exterior door. The current owner (and mother-in-law) says that she had previously stained the door and used varnish. The outside is black, very black and she doesn’t want to change that. The interior looks like just a clear finish. There are some obvious dings where the finish is missing and overall it just looks a little shabby.
Quite frankly this is outside my experience (mostly hand finishing of furniture and general painting) but I’m willing to help her out. My take on her wishes is that she does NOT want to paint the exterior (which makes sense to me but that’s not what she wants) What’s the best approach here? My initial thought is a good cleaning, sanding, stain, and finish, but a complete strip of the old finish.
Any thoughts or suggestion would be greatly appreciated along with product recommendations. Budget is of secondary concern although I should say that I don’t have any spray equipment nor experience using it.
Thanks!
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Greetings Mike.
Is there a storm door protecting and which direction does the door face?
The door does not have a storm and it faces north but is under a pretty deep overhang (~4').Thanks!
bump
The question of to strip or not to strip comes down to, in my view, how bad the present finish is. If it's not too bad, then sanding and refinishing with a compatible finish would probably be enough. My take is that the "client" doesn't want to change the overall appearance much. Older folks are often less comfortable with change.
Some tips that may help. For the exterior, a finish with a stain included might give a more even color, making up for the sanding. Be sure to remove the door and apply finish to the top and bottom edges, too.
You probably know from your furniture work that the depth of dings can be lessened by applying water to the ding and heating the spot with an iron to turn the water to steam, swelling the fibers. Of course, letting the wood dry a few days before the final sanding and finishing is wise.
I hope I'm understanding the drift of your question.
The question of to strip or not to strip comes down to, in my view, how bad the present finish is.
The finish seems to be largely intact, there's no peeling for example. There are nicks/dings where one might expect, at the edges for example, where bare wood shows.
As I said, my experience is mostly with new projects. If this was a new door, I wouldn't be asking questions but I'm much less sure about repairing an existing finish. Given this is a front door and the nature of the "client" I want to be darned sure I do everything right. I just don't know how to proceed. Can I give the doors a good standing, apply a stain, and top coat?
Thanks!
You can't stain if there is any old sealing-type of finish (urethane, varnish, etc.) remaining. The stain will just wipe off. If the sanding has exposed bare wood in spots, then you could apply the stain all over, then wipe it off, hopefully leaving only the bare spots with new stain, evening out the color.
If you try the Fine Woodworking forum, you may find some more experienced people there.
Wayn is on the right track & gives good advice. Each outdoor refinish project is different and calls for different needs. If the finish is well intact and the color is fairly even, then I would go the cleaning route, see what that produces, and then you might want to buff it down a bit with 220 grit & #0 steel wool for any nooks, don't penetrate the old finish to discolor, and then recoat with a light coat of marine poly.
Done it many times and it's usually the easiest route with good fast results.
If you get into stripping and refinishing pine, it can turn into a much longer project than you figured. Pine can be very tricky with stains old & new and they, (depending on the stain or dye), can penetrate deeply and are hard to get out. Sometimes you can lightly strip off the top coat of finish, clean it & sand it lightly to remove any dried residue, then re stain with the same color stain. If you go that route use the same base finish as the stain.
Thanks Jer and Wayne for your advice.Forgive me if I being a bit pedantic but I want to make sure I get this right. The simplest course seems to be to be to scuff up the old finish and simply apply a new coat of varnish because one can't stain over a sealing finish. I knew that and it now brings back bad memories of color matching project I worked on a number years ago. For areas where the finish is missing, additional sanding, stain, and varnish.Since she (the owner) just wants the same color (black), if necessary I could sand through or strip the old varnish and apply more stain. I know that pine can be problematic when it comes to stains but since she wants the same, dark color this seems to be less of an issue. My question is that the color of the existing finish seems a bit dull (faded) so I'd appreciate anyone's guess as to if just a new layer of varnish will bring back the luster.Finally, does anyone have any brand suggestions for stain and varnish. I'm in a well populated area so I would imagine almost anything is available if I look for it (and there's always the Internet). Thanks!
I'm jumping in late here. I'd think just a good sanding to get it smooth and recoat with a Spar varn is all ya need.
Divots or raw spots should be hit with a dab of Minwax Ebony stain, prior to new coat.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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For wood that will be exposed to the outdoors and to sunlight I like Minwax Helmsman marine varnish. It has greater flexibility than typical finishes and more UV protection.
Minwax is ok. Solar Lux is what I like to use. Woodworking stores (woodcraft), or just get it online.
If you're doing black like totally 'ebonizing' something on raw wood, I go to the grocery store and pick up a packet of Rit Dye.
I think you'll be fine with Minwax.
For staining wood black, I have also used leather dye with great success.