Refinishing 6 panel wood doors

[Matt Rosing]

I'm trying to figure out a good way to strip the inside of my front door (a friend's dog scratched it up and some of the scratches are deep enough to need planing). Its oak and has 25 year old polyurethane (or something similar) on it. It's a nice door and I've already stripped the outside and been oiling it for the past 10 years or so. I also need to do the frame and side panels. To add to this, eventually I also want to refinish all of the interior doors as well and they're all 6 panel oak doors as well.

So, I need to find a reasonably quick way to strip wood doors down to the wood. For the rails, stiles and center of the panels I was wondering about something like a Festool Rotex 150. I don't know much about it but it has to be faster than a regular random orbital sander and hopefully less destructive than a belt sander. That leaves the outer edges of the panels (all flat but narrow and at an angle) and the trim that covers up the edge of the panels. This is where a 5 axis cnc router might be really cool but am wondering if using the chemical stripper on those parts would work. I haven't used chemical strippers before so I don't know how difficult they are to work with.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Tyler Bancroft]

Buy a cheap vintage hand plane and go to town on it?

[William Hodge]

Take the varnish off, leave the wood. Most of the wood is fine, and can stay put. The scratches can be filled, see below.This tool works well on painted wood carvings and moldings.







https://myoldhousefix.com/product/speedheater-cobra-15/

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Speedheater™ Cobra



$499.00 $449.00


Contents

• Speedheater™ IR Paint Remover, Cobra
• Instruction and Safety Manual (PDF download here)
• Most efficient tool in its class for small, profiled surfaces.
• Incredible speed.
• NOTE: Does not include any scrapers. * Purchased separately *.

With its gentle infrared stripping method and its incredible speed, Speedheater™ Cobra is in a class of its own! The Speedheater™ Cobra is the FASTEST infrared paint remover on the market. The Cobra is the perfect tool for DIY homeowners stripping staircases, doors, windows, spindles, tight spaces, furniture, and more.
For professionals, add the Cobra to your Speedheater™ Standard 1100 Kit and any painted wood surface – big or small – can be stripped with the Speedheater™ Method. With its 20-year-tested infrared technology and with INCREDIBLE SPEED, the new Cobra strips paint, varnish, and adhesives.

To deal with the dog scratches, I make a wood filler paste out of sawdust, plastic resin glue, and the dog. Put all three in Wife's blender for 25 minutes, make an adhesive slurry. Add salt. Apply to scratched door. This is less than effective at hiding the scratches, but it does prevent future scratching problems.

[Greg Quenneville]

You’re gonna need a bigger blender

[Greg Quenneville]

By the way, I assume your location is North America? If not, a Festool BS75 with frame attachment would make quick work of all but the beveled edges of the raised panels. Its a fantastic tool-I used it and a Rotex to finish 25 cedar doors and got a pro result.

Another probably better idea is to get a cabinet shop to run all the doors in a batch through a wide belt sander, then slave away at the beveled edges and mouldings at your leisure.

[Matt Rosing]

Bill, thanks for the idea on the heater and dog based wood filler. I have another door I can practice on and a heat gun that I can play with the temperatures with. If that works then the speedheater sounds like a great idea for the beveled areas. I might make one change, though. I will replace the dog with a butt cheek of the friend that refuses to train their dog.

Also, there is one part of molding that is sort of a quarter round (1/2" diameter). Are there scrapers that shape?

[John TenEyck]

You don't need any new machines. All you need is chemical stripper and patience to remove the old finish. It will work on flat, round, or beveled areas, is a much safer approach for the wood than heat, and won't leave uneven areas like sanding might. After you get the finish off, you can decide if it's better to sand/scrape away the scratches or fill them, or a combination of the two, or just leave them. Sometimes trying to fill scratches makes them stand out even more. And if the whole thing needs to be sanded after the finish is off it will go a lot easier.

John

[Tom M King]

We use heat to remove some things. I wouldn't do it, and recommend no one do it, without a Supplied Air system. You don't want to breathe that stuff. No way would I do it with no more than a respirator.

I have some sort of big heater for that purpose, that I forget the name of (Speed Heater sounds familiar, but it's bigger than the one in that ad), but for a door, I recommend a regular heat gun, if you decide to use heat.

[Tom M King]

These 1" scrapers are the best I know of, for this job. You can put more force on the 1" than the wider ones. These use regular Red Devil blades. They sharpen easily with a 6", or 8" Smooth file. The handle seems like junk, but it's really ideal, and better than the main name brand ones. These are about all dedicated flooring suppliers sell, for a number of years.

https://www.chicagohardwoodflooring....oring-scrapers

edited to add: These 1850 original doors had 165 years of coats of paint on them. I couldn't repaint them after getting them down to bare wood. The owners agreed. The panels had Beaver fur stuffed around them to keep drafts out. I had to strip one to reposition a panel that someone had put a small finish nail in. Once I got the panel to the point that it would move, the owners said to continue. That was in 2015, and the doors still look this good, being protected under a porch-actually, Much better than this poor picture. As expected, and hoped for, they have lost some of this gloss.

I remember it took me a whole day to strip one side of one door. Obviously, not six panel, so some easier.

Master is the brand of heat gun I like. I have one old enough to have a wooden handle, that's still kicking. The newer ones have plastic handles that get hotter.

edited to add: No sanding was done on those doors. Finished with that scraper linked to/