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Calling all woodworking fellas..

Sahara said:
I do this stuff for a living, every day. First off, no polyurethane. Never.
If you have to have a shiny finish use Marine grade spar varnish. Thin your first coat.
The best finish is made by Sikkens. It’s two parts. An oil that looks like it may be teak or linseed oil, and a protective top coat.
Easiest and still good is linseed oil or teak oil. Renew it every year, it’s easy. You can do your door in less then an hour. Soak it in then wipe off excess that doesn’t soak in or else it will peel just like urethane.
Click to expand...
I've been thinking about trying an oil, I've used Linseed and Tung oil before but never tried Teak.
 
zyzzyx said:
When you say the door is Mahogany, I think Boats! Unfortunately, Mahogany and Teak have oils in them that
doesn't play well with clear top coats. If you want a front door that always looks nice and beautiful, buy a
High quality fiberglass unit. If that's not an option, use a semi transparent stain such as Sikkens, but not
any type of clear coat.
Click to expand...
I love wood and don't appreciate the fake look, the wife has mentioned replacing our wood siding with vinyl:eek:. I don't get it, we built it 20 years ago, built 3' stone walls then wood siding so it never gets wet and still looks incredible with very little maintenance.. I don't get her line of thinking? That's what has me thinking about stain, the siding gets the same weather and holds up great. Seems Sikkens and Awl Grip are the 2 winners so far.
 
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Here’s a public service announcement for the guys here that may use the various oil products on wood. DO NOT carelessly bundle up your rags and throw them in the garbage! You can burn your house down quicker then you would think. It almost happened to me, and we were careful.
I made a nice plant stand for wife. We wiped it down with linseed oil and spread out the rags so they the wouldn’t spontaneously combust.
Next morning, wife tossed them in a pile in front of the washing machine while she did chores. In about 45 minutes they were smouldering. Another few minutes and they would have been in flames.
Spread them out so that they dry, or better yet put them in an empty can, fill with water, and place outside.
 
Sahara said:
Here’s a public service announcement for the guys here that may use the various oil products on wood. DO NOT carelessly bundle up your rags and throw them in the garbage! You can burn your house down quicker then you would think. It almost happened to me, and we were careful.
I made a nice plant stand for wife. We wiped it down with linseed oil and spread out the rags so they the wouldn’t spontaneously combust.
Next morning, wife tossed them in a pile in front of the washing machine while she did chores. In about 45 minutes they were smouldering. Another few minutes and they would have been in flames.
Spread them out so that they dry, or better yet put them in an empty can, fill with water, and place outside.
Click to expand...
What??? Just an oil soaked rag will combust on it's own?
 
Yes, happened to my neighbor. Put all the rags he was using to stain his cedar house in a pile by the house, he came out in time to put out the flames that were starting to crawl up the side of his house. Had he not been there, he would have definitely lost his house. Thanks for sharing, very important to know.
 
I was wrong, here's what I've been using.. guess it's not polyurethane, it's spar urethane.. not sure what difference there is between poly and just urethane but it doesn't work.View attachment 1110893

Here's the door, you can see the stained wood is holding up fine
IMG_20210516_095928961_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210516_095939484_HDR.jpg


Screenshot_20210516-095648.png
 
I very much appreciate the input, still not sure what to try as there's a few good options to choose from but it's clear that it won't be the Urethane. I like the idea of something that won't require stripping when it fails since that's what makes it miserable. Recoating the door isn't a problem but when I have to strip the finish then dress up the stain (it uses ebony around the contours for the antique look) it's a real PITA and time consuming..

Is Awl Grip a clear that will require stripping? Right now I'm leaning towards the Sikkens, I've seen their 2 stage deck stains/coatings last many, many years.
 
Another thing I've learned is that any product with linseed oil in it will feed mildew!
My house is covered in cedar, and I used to use Thompson's semi transparent oil stain
on it until I realized that every four years I had to wash the house down with a chlorine
bleach solution such as Jomax by Zinsser. I have since changed to staining my house
with Arborcoat by Benjamin Moore. No more mildew food, no more mildew!
 
Hey-O said:
That's a nice house and a lot of wood to maintain.
Click to expand...
It's not bad, shortly after building the house the siding on the half story upstairs went to **** fast.. maybe because it was partially attic space behind it or that it was the highest area therefore got more sun? We replaced it with Hardy shakes (seen in the pics) so it's cement board now. Then the backside had mildew issues from to much shade, we chopped down 2 trees (1 was to close anyways and the other got hit by lightning) and haven't had anymore problems.
 
IMG_20150802_145750.jpg
747mopar said:
It's not bad, shortly after building the house the siding on the half story upstairs went to **** fast.. maybe because it was partially attic space behind it or that it was the highest area therefore got more sun? We replaced it with Hardy shakes (seen in the pics) so it's cement board now. Then the backside had mildew issues from to much shade, we chopped down 2 trees (1 was to close anyways and the other got hit by lightning) and haven't had anymore problems.
Click to expand...

Just saw this post. What did you end up doing?

I've done several exterior wood projects over the last 15 years. PT lumber, white oak, mahogany, okoume, sitka spruce, fur, teak, western red cedar. I've tried so many things and cannot count them all. Conclusion, nothing lasts 2 years. And despite what "they" tell you, the continual reduction in VOC content make it worse, and water based just isnt there yet.

If you want clear or amber "varnish" try the top end marine spar varnish. It will cost about 5x what you paid for the Minwax Helmsman. On boats, you usually put on 7 plus coats, and your're still redoing it after 5 years.

If you go oil, like someone said, stuff grows in it.

I did one picnic table in western red cedar several years ago with the latest an greatest mix of African and synthetic oils and pigments and did a second table set just painted. The oil table looks good for 1 year and looks like crap by the end of the 2nd year. The painted ones look as good today as they did day one.

IMG_9031.jpg
 
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BSB67 said:
Just saw this post. What did you end up doing?

I've done several exterior wood projects over the last 15 years. PT lumber, white oak, mahogany, okoume, sitka spruce, fur, teak, western red cedar. I've tried so many thing and cannot count the all. Conclusion, nothing lasts 2 years. And dispite what "they" tell you, the continual reduction in VOC content make it worse, and water based just isnt there yet.

If you want clear or amber "varnish" try the top end marine spar varnish. It will cost about 5x what you paid for the Minwax Helmsman. On boats, you usually put on 7 plus coats, and your're still redoing it after 5 years.

If you go oil, like someone said, stuff grows in it.

I did one picnic table in western red cedar several years ago with the latest an greatest mix of African and synthetic oils and pigments and did a second set, but just painted. The oil table looks good for 1 year and looks like crap by the end of the 2nd year. The painted ones look as good today as they did day one.

View attachment 1129795
Click to expand...
Thanks for this post. I paint for a living and am constantly learning after thirty years.
 
Several suggested Sikkens, having seen it used and it being a stain not a clear I went with it. I actually called the company which is now PPG (product name is Prolux window and door), he said it's designed to shrink and grow and will only need a light scuff for recoat NO STRIPPING THANK GOD! It really brought the door back to life, looks incredible after 3 coats. There was some trimming left to be done in this picture.
IMG_20210601_195004907.jpg
 
747mopar said:
Several suggested Sikkens, having seen it used and it being a stain not a clear I went with it. I actually called the company which is now PPG (product name is Prolux window and door), he said it's designed to shrink and grow and will only need a light scuff for recoat NO STRIPPING THANK GOD! It really brought the door back to life, looks incredible after 3 coats. There was some trimming left to be done in this picture.View attachment 1129800
Click to expand...

I've used Sikkens, twice. It's not what it use to be. The second time I went to West Virgina to buy it there as they are one of the states that don't have the more restrictive VOC content.

For your door, the combination of vertical surface, stain, no rain, and partial sun you should get several years.

The door looks very nice. Good luck
 
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