Finishing kauri doors for internal use

[thomsens]

I have a pair of unusual kauri doors with diagonal ship-lapped panels. Now stripped of paint, what should I finish them with for internal use? Just some oil like tung or linseed? Is polyurethane a no-no?

[thomsens]

[Chief Tiff]

The photo didn't show, but that be my computer. Anybody else see a picture?

Kauri is rather soft so oils don't really show off the timber very well, a varnish is usually best I reckon. Normally though you'd want to apply a finish before assembling complex joinery so a door with multiple components might look a bit off if a new finish is applied over it.

Maybe a thinned down version like a wipe-on? Make your own with 1 part each of varnish, gum turps and boiled linseed oil and give it a liberal brush coating; it should squeeze into the gaps without sticking everything together and cracking when the wood moves.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Welcome to the forums.

Are these doors in a heritage or old house? If they are then the best finish would be shellac, which can be brushed on. I have cedar doors that were refinished with shellac 9 years ago and still look great as well as having the figure "pop" out. Don't use poly or varnish in an old house - it is sacrilege! If likely to get damp then the UBeaut Hard Shellac should work fine.

If they are in a new house and likely to get wet/damp (bathroom, laundry etc.) then the most practical finish available to you should be OK. Either the Chief's suggestion above or else plain old gloss or satin polyurethane depending on finish quality and taste.

David

[thomsens]

Thanks for the replies. the doors will be going into a new house. They are an unusual size 2.650m x 610mm each. They came from an old coach building in Napier, NZ and their size reflects the dimensions of coaches being tall and thin for the narrow tracks to Taupo. hoping this photo will work using Chrome.

kauri.jpg