monty1975

I bought a batch of old birch doors and am working on a set. The seller had 6 and sold me two of them. The doors have a lot of potential but were finshed differently which is giving me some isues.

Door 5A is Varnish over some kind of reddish dye. The professional wood stripper had a heck of a time getting it off.



Door 6A was shellac over a brown stain and while it stripped a lot better than the other door it isn't perfectly clean.




Door 5A still has red dye in it. I sanded it agressively and it cleaned up but if I rub it with lacquer thinner the red still shows up all over the place. I'm worried that if I stain over it it will show up very blotchy








Door 6A still shows up brown when rubbed with lacquer thinner (pics are after it dried)




My Questions: SHould I bleach these doors? They will be opposing doors right next to each other? I'm worried about two things: 1) color matching across doors and 2)blotching on each door. Will bleaching affect stain? WHat are the pros and cons of bleaching?




I plan on adjusting final color by combining blonde, garnet, amber, or ruby shellac but I would like the base stain to look like this:





Thanks.
Brian

cabinetman

If stripping, sanding and lacquer thinner ran its course, bleaching may be an option. Looking at the doors, the wood may not have been a close match when made. So, you may be able to get out and off all there is, and still wind up with a differential. You may try stripping yourself using "Aircraft Stripper", in the blue can. It's an MC based stripper...very toxic. It just may take out more.

Sanding could help with getting a more even finish. Using a grit too smooth will keep stain from doing its thing well. Usually 150x or nothing smoother than 180x will do the trick.

Bleaching may help. Color toning may also help. I would rather use a good wood conditioner, that a sealer of some sort. Using sealers is very tricky to get just enough without sealing it too much. Sealing is what they do. The light areas could stay light, and likewise for the dark.

Since you won't know how well the stain part goes until it's on, you could tint the clear topcoat finish to tone them up.

jaros bros.

If you run some thinner over it, it will give you an idea of whether it is going to be blotchy or not. Even it up and then seal it and then you can move on from there.

__________________
Josh Jaros Remodeler in The Woodlands, Texas www.jarosbros.com

Rick Mosher

Looks like they can be sanded more to me. Is the center panel solid wood or plywood? If it's plywood or veneer then you'll have to be VERY careful you don't go through the face veneer. On the solid rails and stiles you should be able to sand down to clear wood. I would only use 2 part wood bleach as a last resort, it can cause discoloration and even adhesion issues 6 months down the road. Try some clorox straight from the bottle, saturate the entire area and put in direct sunlight. That will get rid of some dye stains but not all. Are you trying to get a natural wood color or will you be staining?

monty1975

The rails and stiles are veneered - I'm guessing the center panel is veneered too. If this was solid wood I would blast it with some 80 grit.


To this point on door 5A I sanded with 120 but don't want to risk too much sanding if bleach would take care of it. I'll give some household bleach a try.

THanks!

Brian