Resanding door with rough finish

[kesawi]

Unfortunately a locksmith stuffed up the position of a lock on our timber front door and moved the door handle. He then did a poor job of patching the previous handle holes with putty that was nowhere near the timber colour.

I've subsequently fixed the poor patch job using timber plugs and now need to refinish the edge panel of the door.

The timber has a relatively rough finish (see photo) and I'm not sure what grit sand paper to use to strip the existing finish and prep the surface so that it matches the other panels.

Would 60 be too coarse?

Would a belt sander be too aggressive? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210903/3dfe9bff0fae2a1c16f80fd0d418d4e9.jpg

[bruceward51]

I am by no means an expert in this but I think the original door is stained before finishing and the trick will be to match the stain. And I think what you describe as a rough finish is in fact the grain showing through.
I would hand sand a very small area to blend the new wood into the door. Start with course - say 80 - just on the damage. Then go a bit wider with the next grit up - 120 if you start with 80. Extend each sanding a little further with feather the effect.
if the rest of the door feels (rather than looks) smooth, it is probably finished to 240 grit. The steps are 80, 120, 180, 240. Each grit just removes the scratches of the courser grit.
matching stains is an art that escapes me. Hopefully you can get a good match from the standard stains from the hardware. Unfortunately it is a maze of options including some that incorporate the finish ( top coat) and others that require a final clear coat. I can’t offer advice on that.
Bruce

[double.d]

I think the locksmith needs to pony up for a new door or pay for a professional to restore it.

[Beardy]

Looks a bit like they have used tinted estapol finish on the meranti.
Depends how fussy you want to be but the best option would be to sand the whole face of the door and refinish it so that it is a consistent finish.
No need to do the other side or edges just the face.

[kesawi]

Have been chasing the locksmith about it but no longer returning calls, emails or texts, so short of legal action no joy. Attempted to get a few quotes to refinish the door, but no one was willing to do the job. It was a pretty rough original job.

500834

Found a stain which appeared to be a close match. Tried just feathering the sanding out to see if I could blend in, but the existing stained part of the door was quite rough, so was left with smooth shiny patches over the holes.

The door exterior and frame was weathered, and the stain had faded so that ajacent areas of timber had different colours. Decided to just sand back the exterior faces of the door and frame, and the vertical face on the inside with the lock.

Used 40 grit on a belt sander and then hand sanded 60 grit to clean up. This seemed to match the roughness of the adjoining timber.

500835

After one coat of the tinted Cabots Exterior Clear it came up okay and the untouched areas of the frame and door seemed to match quite nicely. The plugged holes are hardly noticeable unless you know where they are.

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Second coat today and the colours are still matching the existing untouched areas nicely.
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Is a three coat system so will need to finish off next weekend. Planning on going over the untouched areas as well with the final coat so that the finish is consistent.