Best way to finish stripped trim

[krawdon (WavyGlass)]

I am happily plugging along at my new old house, which mostly means painting the walls and what trim is still painting (maybe I'll strip it one day...) since I really don't think the interior has seen a paintbrush since the house was built in 1916.

One of my next projects is finishing stripping the trim in one of the bedrooms - the other bedrooms have trim that was beautifully stripped and refinished by the former owners. The trim I need to work on has been *mostly* stripped of paint, but there's still a bit on there. What's the best way to take off the last bits? I was thinking mineral spirits followed by water, then some light sanding.

Also, what should I finish the wood with? The already-refinished wood is beautifully rich in color, but there's no poly or anything on it. I was thinking of either a couple coats of tung oil or boiled linseed oil. Any recommendations? I really don't know what I'm doing.

I also need to oil and seal the front door, which is unpainted. I have no idea what to use for that - maybe a marine finish, since it is south facing?

-Katy

[Nettie]

Cadrad has a nice instructional post on some of these issues on the second page of the Old House How-to forum. I like a second pass with my heat gun and a small putty knife to flick off those small flecks of paint. I cleaned the wood with denatured alcohol rather than mineral spirits. The finish I like is shellac with a little wax to cut the shine.

[krawdon (WavyGlass)]

Thanks! I still need to get a heat gun. Why do you prefer denatured alcohol to mineral spirits? I really don't know enough (yet) to know the difference.

[Nettie]

It evaporates and disappears very rapidly and so the smell is gone within minutes. It doesn't necessarily dissolve all the paint but it makes it brittle and easy to flick off with a scraper.

[Nettie]

I feel like I should add the disclaimer "on my wood" to everything I say because the types and amounts of finishes vary so much that in the end you have to experiment a little to find what will work on yours.

[chooseopen (WavyGlass)]

You dont have to obsess over getting off every bit of paint. We have had luck dabbing a dark-colored Sharpie marker on any bits of paint. Choose a color that is a bit darker than your stain. Once your stain/finish is applied the dark mark just disappears.

[HistoricDesign]

Never use tung oil or boiled linseed oil on your house's trim or on any antique furniture or millwork. That goes for orange and lemon oil also. If you decide to stain your woodwork, strip it as best as you can and stain with a good quality pigment stain. Varnish should be applied to give the wood a protective coating and some gloss. Houses of this era typically had either a spirit or oil varnish (later on lacquer varnishes were common) but modern varnishes will work fine as long as you don't use a high gloss polyurethane. A good coat of a natural beeswax paste made for millwork and tinted to match the woodwork will give the finish a nice, antique luster.

As far as the front door, a good coat of spar or marine varnish is about as good an option as there is, although maintenance will be on-going and it will need to be refinished every few years.

[heartwood]

boiled linseed oil by itself on an exterior surface will soon grown dark with mold...blending with turpentine will minimize that issue though i would apply a clear sealer over the blopentine if a clear finish is desired...there are other products on the market that may be a better choice...applying a 50/50 blend of boiled linseed oil and turpentine to bare wood followed by primer and finish paint will offer a longer lasting paint surface...

general finishes has an interior and exterior clear finish that works well.....

tung and linseed oil has been used for centuries on wood surfaces...historic design, can you offer further explanation why you would warn against this process?

...jade

[HistoricDesign]

Yes, linseed oil has been used for centuries in in various finishes such as varnishes and paints on furniture and millwork. In fact, colonial cabinetmakers used quite a bit of it on their unfinished furniture. However, I do not recommend using it as the cabinetmakers did in the past. The primary problem with boiled linseed and tung oils is they are drying oils which, if they saturate the wood, w will oxidize and turn the wood black over time. Cutting the oil with turpentine is advisable if you are using boiled linseed oil as it will keep you from completely saturating the wood and turning dark if you are planning on using a clear finish. Once it has saturated the wood and polymerized, you cannot remove it. Conservators do not soak wood in linseed oil for this reason.

I do not know that finishers in the early 20th century routinely soaked trim in linseed oil as part of the varnishing process. They often used pigment stains that used linseed oil as a vehicle, but it was cut with a solvent sometimes applied over sealed wood. Likewise, oil varnishes were linseed oil based with a natural or synthetic resin mixed with a solvent. I am not aware of instances where they commonly soaked the wood substrate in oil and then varnished.

Tung oil is a fairly recent arrival to the US and has been available for roughly 100 years.

Cheers,

MJ

[krawdon (WavyGlass)]

Thanks for all of the replies! I should have said that I'm pretty sure that the wood stripped and refinished by the previous owners has not been stained - it's just oiled or something. It's chestnut. Wood the wood that has been stripped but not yet refinished is rather gray and dry looking. So, I'm not sure what finish was applied to make it look so rich and lovely... I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out! I don't *think* it has been varnished, but I could well be wrong.

I think a marine coat for the front door is probably what I'm looking at, but I wanted to ask. I know that keeping it up will be ongoing, but that's ok. The wood right now looks pretty sad and dry. Would it be better to oil or stain it before applying a finish? Or do those types of finishes darken the wood on their own?

-Katy