Dipped doors left untreated: What now?

[LindsayO]

The doors in my house are old panelled doors that need some help.

Here's what I think happened. I think the previous owners of my house had the doors dipped and all the paint removed and then their renovation project stopped for whatever reason, so they left them totally untreated

Now they have really dirty greasy marks around the handle and the rest of the wood looks dry and in some places it seems to be splitting open on the grain.

So here are my questions:

1. What's the best way to clean the wood without damaging it further?
2. Is there something I can use to seal them now, that I can later paint over if I decide to?
3. Where can I get the internal moldings that hold the panels in, and how can I get them to match the wood of the door?
4. Where the wood is splitting on the surface should I just sand it down?

THank you in advance, I'm a wood-newbie so any help is much appreciated

 

[memor maplin]

After decades of being covered up its had all its natural oils stripped away.

If your not going to paint them give a feed of bees wax polish. You can get any gunge from around handles and such like with some fine wire wool.

My doors came up a treat. No cracks.

 

[LindsayO]

thanks memor maplin, i'm a bit worry the beeswax wont be enough as the doors look so dry, plus they already are cracked in places so dont know what to do about that
thanks again
Lindsay

 

[Rob G]

Sad tht the doors have developed splits - I can't help too much on the finishing, other than add that I had bar and batten doors stripped many years ago and they've not split and have never had a finish on them.

I do wonder if the splitting is due more to the house being dry due to the CH in which case any finish won't help - my stripped doors are all bedroom ones and that area of the house is at a lower temperature.

Rob