Having recently stripped some of the original doors in our new (1930's) house, I'm looking for advice on how to treat them. The ones I have stripped by hand have come out in a beautiful rich pine and look great for now, but I'd like to treat them to keep them this colour. I'm guessing beeswax would be the best thing to do, but could anyone recommend any products or procedures for getting them to look great? Also, one of the doors I still have to do is the bathroom, does this need any extra protection from steam?
Coupled with this, the previous owners dipped and stripped the downstairs doors with pretty poor results, some of the joints have warped, as have two of the panels. They weren't treated afterwards and have now bleached in the sun. Does anyone know how to rectify the bleaching? I'm guessing that if I give them a good sanding and then wax them as I plan to with the ones upstairs the may look OK?
We used natural wax on our old stripped doors. We used a liquid beeswax in a bottle (from Waitrose) rather than the solid type in a tin, just made it easier to rub over. We have only done this once in three years, I think they ought to be done more often than that! They still look fine though.
is it sun-bleaching or is it the result of not completely reversing any caustics left after stripping? especially if they had them done in a hot caustic bath.
You could try sponging them well with vinegar-in-water solution, which is acid, then wash down with plain water and let dry thoroughly, then wax with any clear wax. we used Liberon Black Bison, wax, they have a variety of tones.
behind every successful man is a disbelieving mother-in-law
Thanks all, I think it's the after effects of the dipping process, the doors area a greyish colour all over with occasional blotches. There is certainly some sun bleaching in parts, but very little.
I've used antique oil on worksurfaces & it is effective. However it smells unpleasant during use and for a short time afterwards, whereas beeswax generally smells lovely.
