Cedar door - How to finish?

[mikewinnie123]

G.day,

I have had an old cedar door stripped back and was wondering what sort of 'varnish' I should put on it. The door was originally an outdoor door, but will now be used indoor so weather won't be an issue. The guy who stripped it for me said I should apply a ‘grain filler’ first (??). Any recommendations would be welcome. I have attached a few photos of the door.

Thanks
Mike

[toolbagsPLUS]

G'day Mike,

If you want to stick to traditional ways then fill with plaster of Paris, used to be arrowroot, but plaster is fine allow to dry rub of excess powder then rub in Raw linseed oil, the white plaster will magically disappear and become translucent, leave for a day or so and finish with a few coats of shellac. De-nibbing with #1 steel wool every so often. When built up to your satisfaction final rub with 0 steel wool and rub in some good quality furniture wax, I use and recommend Black Bison, Dark Oak or Dark Mahogany with 0000 steel wool. Buff up with a soft rag and you'll have a door that looks 200 years old.

If you get stuck give me a call 0404 000 738.

Cheers


Steve

[mikewinnie123]

Thanks Steve. I’ve gone with what you have suggested and have POP and oiled one side of the door and so far so good..it looks great!. In regard to shellac, have you any suggestions on what brand I should use? Hopefully will do the other side tomorrow and shellac it by the weekend!

Mike

[toolbagsPLUS]

Thanks Steve. I’ve gone with what you have suggested and have POP and oiled one side of the door and so far so good..it looks great!. In regard to shellac, have you any suggestions on what brand I should use? Hopefully will do the other side tomorrow and shellac it by the weekend!

Mike

Good stuff Mike, works like magic doesn't it! I buy bulk Shellac flakes so buninings I would say or see Jim at Goods and Chattels at Clayfield he carries a good range, all you need is ordinary orange flakes nothing fancy. Jim also carries the Black Bison wax I mentioned. Would love to see a pic of the finished door.

Cheers Steve

[Horsecroft88]

The advice sounds fine, but I must admit plaster of paris to fill grain is a new one for me. Secondly, I have never used linseed oil before applying a shellac finish to cedar. However, I defer to your experience and might try it out to see what it is like.

My only concern is that (a) trying to apply a shellac finish over an oil finish might be a little problematic, and (b) the residual oil from using linseed might be a little sticky and actually make it difficult to sand/rub back with steel wool.

To build up a shellac finish, though on cedar, you really need to apply more than a couple of coats. Given how fast it drys off, I would be actually applying basically 3 coats, lightly sanding off and applying at least another 3 coats. Before finally rubbing back with super fine grade steel wool, and then applying a bees wax coating. Old MacDonalds waxes make both a cedar and clear wax. Having used both on cedar, i havn't actually really found any discernable benefit of using the cedar stained wax. But of course each to their own.

I am currently restoring all the cedar joinery in our 1826 country property, let alone have restored a lot of cedar joinerywith my other property as well as antiques over the past twenty years so have a little experience.

All the best with the cedar door, it should come up nicely. Dave