I am looking for assistance on refinishing a Door:
Recently I returned from Africa with a pygmy door that I plan to turn into a coffee table (yes they are that small). The door is stunning in some areas you can still see the original coloring, unfortunately somebody along the life of the door added a varnish top coat (I can only assume) without cleaning the door thus trapping all the dirt, mud etc on and hiding the coloring.
I would like some recommendations for a very simple (mild) stripper to remove the top coats and clean the wood. I do not want to sand the door due to its delicate carving as well as I might remove to coloring.
Any recommendations will be great.
PS – I know the photo is not the best and the color is mostly hidden but if it helps i have attached a link to my lumberjocks post.
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/10075
James Ryan
Replies
James,
If you want to do a simple cleaning of surface dirt, Fantastic, Simple Green etc would fit the bill.
However to strip the finish to bare wood; I would suggest you have a commercial stripper do the job.
On the other end of that spectrum I would ask why strip it? If you want to bring the color in at the bottom of the door to match the rest, it could probably be done by using various glazes. This requires some knowledge of the process and color.
The fact that it has some dirt underneath the varnish may be a visual caveat in your eyes. You could open up a large can of worms trying to "correct" it. Just an opinion.
I presume you have to put a piece of glass on it to use it as a table.
Peter
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