Dipped Door Disaster

[Frida]

The doors in my 1930s house have been through some misadventures recently so I'm looking for some advice on how to rescue them.
I got them dipped with the intention of having a clean base to repaint them, but once I saw the natural wood, I fell in love and am now determined not to paint them. I'd like to go a bit Arts & Crafts with the house, and wanted to keep it simple so I bought boiled linseed oil. Problem:
1. The lounge door has had the handles and hinges moved to the other side, and the gaps filled with WHITE filler. I was told I could stain the filler to match the wood. I bought some water based stain, but despite dozens of coats, the colour has barely changed and the filler doesn't seem to absorb the stain. The surrounding wood soaks up all the stain and gets even darker, leaving a right mess.
2. They came back from dipping with VERY raised grain, some patches furrier than a shag carpet. Despite heavy sanding, the furry patches still had deep grooves, so I bought some coloured filler which can supposedly be stained, filled all the dinks and cracks, and sanded again. I realised OK I'll have to stain the whole lot to get the filler to blend in. Again, the stain makes the wood much darker but not the filler, so it stands out even more! I've attached a photo of a test patch showing a filled patch in the middle, with a strip of linseed oil on the bottom half and a strip of wood stain on the top; in both cases the wood got much darker but the filler stayed light and looks worse than with no treatment at all.
So what can I do to rescue the situation? I realise the coloured filler was a mistake and I should have just left all the cracks & holes. Would a different stain (darker? oil based?) work better on the filler?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Good luck with them, but you'll need it. A stumbling block is that most household joinery was never meant to be anything but painted, so you'll always have poor joints, second grade timber, unmatched filler, knots etc. I've not seen anything dipped look good yet. It took me ages to paint my last house white after someone had everything stripped. Sorry to be a damp squib.

 

[John Brown]

Repaint them.
A lot of old doors were made to be painted. I personally hate the trend for stripped pine. My own house, which is 1894, has had all the interior doors stripped, and they are twisted like propellers, and look horrible. You can see all the bodges, moved hinges and handles, gaps in the joints.
Should be illegal.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, mine was 1899 - some of the doors were 2" off the linings on one corner.

 

[John Brown]

The idiots who did mine took all the door stops of the lining and replaced them to match the twist. Looks appalling.

 

[Frida]

A stumbling block is that most household joinery was never meant to be anything but painted, so you'll always have poor joints, second grade timber, unmatched filler, knots etc.

Yeah, my original plan was - doors in 1930s houses were meant to be painted, so if I'm going to be true to the style of the house I should keep them painted, plus stripped pine is sooo 1990's etc etc. But then I saw the wood colour, and it's not that yellowy light pine, and I got to looking at Arts & Crafts interiors with all the red oak joinery.....

 

[Marineboy]

+1 for paint. My understanding of the arts and craft style is that wooden furniture and doors echo a Medieval English vibe. So the timber would be something like oak, not pine. Stripped pine anyway is a bit historically inaccurate. The Victorians painted their doors.

 

[Frida]

I had a horrible feeling everyone would just tell me to paint them. They don't really look like pine; I've been told it's 'pitch pine' whatever that is. It looks much warmer like chestnut or red oak. I don't think you'd ever see painted doors in an arts & crafts house.

 

[beech1948]

You don't want to read this but either paint them OR make new doors in a style you want. Quite a dilema.

 

[Mike Jordan]

You might look at the idea of a scumbled finish, sometimes referred to as stained and grained. That would give the advantage of the obscuring affect of painting while having a look of wood grain.
Mike.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I live in an arts+crafts estate, circa 1905. Everybody's doors are painted white, or were originally.

Ours were stripped and ruined (by a previous owner).

They're on my list (to make replacements), and they _will_ be painted...

But for yours, make very certain that the caustic soda has been completely neutralized or you won't get any coatings at all to stick to them.

 

[Frida]

I live in an arts+crafts estate, circa 1905. Everybody's doors are painted white, or were originally.

Ours were stripped and ruined (by a previous owner).

They're on my list (to make replacements), and they _will_ be painted...

But for yours, make very certain that the caustic soda has been completely neutralized or you won't get any coatings at all to stick to them.

Huh. I guess all my research is only showing up the fancy big houses! Having been all for repainting them before, after living with the stripped wood for a few months it is much warmer looking and makes the hallway seem cosier, especially as the floor is quarry tiles.
I did wonder whether mine are even paintable now. I did wipe them over with vinegar, but even after a lot of sanding there are rough areas which might not produce a very even paint finish. The stain certainly soaks into the wood well, its just the filler that's the problem.

If I just do the linseed oil for now, and it really looks rubbish, would I be able to paint them next year or would they have to be re-sanded?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The thing that will really work against you if you repaint is spray wax with silicone - if anyone's used that you've got problems over painting.

 

[--Tom--]

Look the same as mine -1930s 4 panel Douglas fir.
We had ours dipped as I wanted to get rid of the lead paint and they’d have taken too much sanding to get anywhere near smooth.

Anyone who told you that water based stain would tint the filler is mad, and getting it out of the wood now it’s in will be tough.

I’d planned to repaint ours, and may well do, but after 4 years they’ve grown on me and there are always more pressing jobs to do

 

[Bodgers]

I had a horrible feeling everyone would just tell me to paint them. They don't really look like pine; I've been told it's 'pitch pine' whatever that is. It looks much warmer like chestnut or red oak. I don't think you'd ever see painted doors in an arts & crafts house.

It is tight grained and been seasoning for years so it doesn't look like the kind of fast growing pine you would buy today from B&Q (for example).

Average UK houses that aren't that big, so they are better lighter and less fussy anyway. Having wood doors with grain pattern can make a house seem smaller IMO.



Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No, it's not pitch pine, just a better grade (slower grown) of general purpose timber than we get now.
The dipping has probably made a hell of a mess of the ply panels, as well.

 

[Frida]

Look the same as mine -1930s 4 panel Douglas fir.
We had ours dipped as I wanted to get rid of the lead paint and they’d have taken too much sanding to get anywhere near smooth.

Anyone who told you that water based stain would tint the filler is mad, and getting it out of the wood now it’s in will be tough.

I’d planned to repaint ours, and may well do, but after 4 years they’ve grown on me and there are always more pressing jobs to do

They do grow on you! I was completely against stripped doors, but have lived with them for a few months because I haven't had time to do anything with them, and have now done a complete about-turn.

 

[Frida]

No, it's not pitch pine, just a better grade (slower grown) of general purpose timber than we get now.
The dipping has probably made a hell of a mess of the ply panels, as well.

Oh yeah, full of splits and cracks. Which I thought I could sort out with the filler but should have left well alone.

 

[AndyT]

While I agree that they would originally have been painted and should be painted again, you asked about linseed oil.
You could improve the "dry" appearance a bit and give the wood some protection against dirt by applying oil. Use boiled linseed oil as it will dry quicker than raw. Brush it into all the corners and then wipe off all the excess with a rag. It will look quite nice on the bare wood but a bit naff on the filler.
When, later on, you change your mind and decide to paint, the linseed oil will serve as a good primer.

 

[Bm101]

Frida, if it's any help I bought the house of pine a few years back. Pine everywhere and we liked it for a bit. I especially liked the not painting side of it. Architraves. dados, skirtings, picture rails. Pine cladding to waist height in the kitchen and the hall, up the stairs... Sometimes they seemed to have had a bit of spare pine left over and randomly nailed it to a wall or a ceiling Just In Case of pine cold turkey.
I'm gradually replacing it room by room for an mdf simple profile architrave/skirt. Painted some shade of white.
The reason (one reason among many) is it just makes every room look about 6 foot bigger in every direction. It's simple on the eye.
Except it in the kitchen. Kept it painted it a svelte grey. Looks Great. By the Mrs' opinion.
Fashions change. Trends and marketing and all that malarkey. There will be a program in a couple of years about how in demand brown furniture is.
If you like the door, you already have the answer. Live with it and enjoy it. No?