aaronc23 wrote:Thanks for the advice everyone! Vala, good point. I guess I just want to make our woodwork look fresh and clean again and stripping everything might be a bit extreme. I did some research and it looks like I might be able to use some Restor-A-Finish to revitalize the wood. Do any of you have any experience using this?
Restor-A-Finish is a bit of a misnomer, as it's more of a scratch cover than anything. But if there are a lot of scratches on the door, it will fill them with color and make them less obvious to the naked eye.
If you use it, make sure to follow up with a good coat of paste wax.
I have experience refinishing, but in the case where the wood is painted (GRRR) and had to be stripped in order to be restored. Even as patient and skilled as I am, I can tell the difference between something that was refinished and something that never was. Something that was left original will have a very nice, uniform finish and something that is refinished will have areas where if you look close, you can tell its kinda uneven because even if you use a chem stripper and sand the hell out of it, you will still get uneven patches because the original stain soaked deep into certain parts of the wood and could not be stripped which prevents the new stain from being soaked up as well as the original stain. In cases like painted wood, which thankfully are only in about 3 rooms, in the back of the house (bathroom, kitchen and upstairs bathroom mostly) its just something you have to deal with unless you want to look at ugly painted wood forever. Again, I think the job I did refinishing looks nice, but the point is it will not look the same as wood left original.
What do I do? I tend to just spot treat with stain and then shellac over. I've never used any specialty products. Someone said tung oil but I haven't tried it.
A few people have already beaten me to the punch. I agree that there appears to be no need to refinish the door and molding. I always like to suggest to owners of older homes that it is just fine if your woodwork and other things do not look brand new. After 80 years your home has lived a little and it might show a bit here and there, but that is nothing to worry about.
More often than not a good cleaning will revive the varnish and restore its glow and luster. Beware, however, of the impulse to "nourish" or "feed" the woodwork, as this invariably involves using linseed oil either alone or mixed into another product. Although linseed oil has its place in some applications, conservators are very way of it as it will oxidize over time and turn the wood dark. Wood doesn't need to be nourished or fed and cracking and other issues are usually a result of changes in ambient humidity. It doesn't really crack because it is hungry.
Once cleaned a good paste wax that is properly tinted will cover up a number of smaller scratches and really show off its well earned patina.
nourish may be a misnomer but it best fits why I use a blend of boiled linseed oil and turpentine on wood sash prior to priming...for thousands of years blo has been used in house and art paint for its lasting qualities....I finished my floors with blopentine and they look stunning...wood dries out over time and tends to split and crack due to expansion and contraction...blopentine is absorbed into the wood bringing it back to its original dimensions...I highly recommend it......
refinishing a door like yours will be a long involved process that may not be necessary--depends on what you're looking for in a final finish...for the scuffed areas, sand gently with 80 grit to knock off loose areas then with 150 to smooth out...apply blopentine mixed with stain of similar color...that's what I would do but there are many ways of going at it....
if you want ot remove the original shellac you can use acetone. If you sand you have to sand everywhere to make it even and you don't' need to do that on this item unless it's to match other woodwork. Personally I would just use a little blopentine or danish oil and rub it in good then dry it down with clean dry cloths. It won't accept finish where there is lacquer because the oils can't penetrate the shellac that is on there so it will just remain in any whitish scratches. I'd do that first, if you aren't happy you can resort to refinishing but I think they look nice now.
If you wipe oil on sanded wood it can soak in, if you wipe it on finished wood it can't soak in unless the finish is oil. It just cant' penetrate through the coating it has unless there are cracks in the finish and then it'll only soak in where the cracks are. Applying oil won't change its size any measurable amount. it shrinks as it dries. over a hunderd years it shrinks as much as it ever will. the only thing that will cause the wood to grow is if you add moisture and that wont' happen inside the house unless your roof leaks or you have a flood or something. I'd pretty much leave it be and consider yourself lucky no one painted it. touching it up a bit by applying blopentine and rubbing it all off will make it look a bit better but it isn't like putting another coat of something on , it can only absorb it where there are imperfections in the surface. If you ever do decide later to strip it , then doing the thing with the oil won't make a noticeable difference, just dont' use the colored oils or mix stain with the oil. if you have some little spinters or cracks that you wish to hide you can use the wax crayons that are for this and come in many colors. find the closest one , just rub it in and rub the excess off. It wont' fill big holes but you can use them for small nail holes, holes from staples, things like that. if you have bigger gaps you can use wood filler that is colored to the exact color of your wood. anyhting over about 1/8th can be filled with wood patches, tapered plugs or wedges etc.
yes you can remove some of the old finish and reamalgamate the finish but you cna mess that up if you don't know what you are doing so it was good advice to practice on other items if you go that route and be prepared to do a full strip and refinish as it's likely you'll need to resort to that once you start removing the old finish.
If you sand or scrape or use steel wool and other abrasive means then you'll break through the outer naturally darkened wood and you'll have quite a job to do that evenly over the whole piece. It's all possible depending what you want to end up with.
