Renovating Old Teak Door

[g3nd03t]

Hi everybody, I'm a rookie with woods...
I just purchased on old house with old teak doors. The previous owner painted the doors with white color. Instead I wanted original teak look.
I already used paint remover to removed 5 layers of the old paint. With the last layer, I already sanded down with 80grain, but I still can see the white paint in the pores and joint of the doors.
What should I do?? How can I get rid of the the white paint completely?? I'm just afraid when I stain the door, I still can see the white paint in the pores...
Please help....Any Suggestions & Recommendations ??
Thank you very much for the help !!!
Stephen

[RufflyRustic]

Hi, I've not had the chance to work with teak but I'd say the only thing is to try to carefully pick the paint out a long and tedious job to be sure! Otherwise, I'd be inclined to keep sanding. The only problem is being careful not to sand too deeply or you might end up with a door a lot thinner than you wanted.

Any chance of a picture or two?

cheers
Wendy

[SilentButDeadly]

If you are lucky then there may be someone around your place who can do caustic stripping of timber. Basically they dump the door in a tank of caustic solution which incidentally is NOT a DIY prospect (way too unsafe).

The caustic solution typically removes every last trace of paint. All you have to do afterwards is wash the board down with an acid solution (dilute vinegar?), sand and finish as you like.........

[g3nd03t]

Hi, I've not had the chance to work with teak but I'd say the only thing is to try to carefully pick the paint out a long and tedious job to be sure! Otherwise, I'd be inclined to keep sanding. The only problem is being careful not to sand too deeply or you might end up with a door a lot thinner than you wanted.

Any chance of a picture or two?

cheers
Wendy

Thanks for your response....
Will take picture this weekend...
Thanks
Stephen

[g3nd03t]

If you are lucky then there may be someone around your place who can do caustic stripping of timber. Basically they dump the door in a tank of caustic solution which incidentally is NOT a DIY prospect (way too unsafe).

The caustic solution typically removes every last trace of paint. All you have to do afterwards is wash the board down with an acid solution (dilute vinegar?), sand and finish as you like.........

Thank you for your response...
No...I don't think they have "caustic stripping of timber" around here....
Have you heard of H2O2 ? Is it the same with "caustic solution" ?

Thanks,
Stephen

[SilentButDeadly]

Yes I've heard of H2O2.........unless I'm very much mistaken it is Hydrogen Peroxide which is one hell of a bleach. It'd probably do 'interesting' things to the timber. Mind you even caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) can do that.

Have a hunt around for a place in Singapore that does furniture restoration or repairs........they might be able to help you.

Door restoration takes hours and hours........I know this because I'm up to number three and it has taken months.....especially the last one. Hours of hunching over a heatgun with a triangle scraper and a box cutter and a bucket of Citristrip.......but the result is worth it.

[seriph1]

Hi Stephen and welcome to the forum - you will find great advice here and a good smattering of opinions .... of varying value

- and in that spirit, I am wondering if you will ever get the paint out of the door without damaging its surface a LOT. While strippers can help, I don't think they'll get it all.

Some solutions may be:

Live with the unique effect of the white flecks
limewash stain the doors to offset and possibly even compliment the white flecks
take the doors to a cabinet maker equipped with a wide belt sander and they WILL get the surface down beneath the white flecks ... if you were in KL I could recommend but don't know anyone in Singa's who can do it. this may remove all the age from the doors though, and possibly leave them looking a little too fresh for you.

some decent pics of the project may help

have fun

[Spoon Man]

It would be good to see a photo if you can get one of the door. Is there any problem with continuing to sand the door (i.e door getting too thin?).

Now I don' know how bad the flecks are or the state of the timber but you could attempt the following:

Sand the door again but with 40 grit, just lightly though, all you want to do is open the pores of the timber - a simple quick wipe over should do - by the way are you hand sanding?
Saturate the door with a thick coat of a natural oil. Whilst the timber is still wet, start sanding again with the 80 grit enough to get out any scratches from the 40grit on the timber. Ensure you make enough saw dust from sanding that you can absorb the oil. Continue this process up to 280 grit.

What will hopefully happen is the saw dust from sanding will be caught and stick to the oil in the pores of the timber, hopefully enough to cover of the flecks, not sure how this will go as I haven't seen the door but I use this technique for sanding in general to get a very smooth highly reflective finish ( i sand up to 1200grit.) see how you go and let us know.