Oak pocket doors

[Jim McHugh]

Some time ago I purchased a 1910 Victorian home which was a fixer-upper. It has lots of oak, doors, baseboards etc. but in particular the entrance to the dining room has two sliding Oak pocket doors, original to the house. My problem is despite frequently oiling and applying wax it returns to showing dry patches in a very short time. My terminology (dry patches) may be wrong so to describe: after applying orange oil the surface finishes beautifully. Within a few days, lighter patches appear as if the oil was soaked up and simply dried out. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Johnny Allround]

Do you have central heating?

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

have the doors been dipped/stripped by any chance (to remove old paint etc) i mean.

 

[Jim McHugh]

Do you have central heating?

Yes, I do, the standard Canadian forced air gas (FAG) system. But it's just these doors are the problem, none of the others are doing this.

 

[Jim McHugh]

have the doors been dipped/stripped by any chance (to remove old paint etc) i mean.

Yes, they have been stripped. When we got the house the doors were poorly varnished it looked like someone started to work on them and then abandoned the task. My wife stripped off the varnish to the bare surface, applied a light sanding and then oiled the surface using orange oil..

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

I was referring specifically to dipping, ie caustic or non caustic stripping methods that can stay in the timber for years and spoil anything you want to put over the top. had a few doors dipped myself and ruined them. just wondering.

 

[Johnny Allround]

Do you have knots in the area of the “drying” patches? If you have they may need sealing with shellac before varnish. Have you got a photo you can post? This normally helps members get to quick solution.

 

[Jim McHugh]

Do you have knots in the area of the “drying” patches? If you have they may need sealing with shellac before varnish. Have you got a photo you can post? This normally helps members get to quick solution.

 

[Johnny Allround]

Hi Jim, the doors are beautiful. As for the treatment I would go back to the base colour take all the layers off and start again. I personally would use a top of the range base coat something like sikkens oak. Then I would use 2 coats of sikkens thc it’s the top coat, your house deserves a stunning centre piece like those doors. That would be a labour of love for me. 1) using a sander go back to the wood. 2) wire wool for the tricky bits. 3) use a shellac solution to seal. ( rub down with wet and dry ) 4) sikkens oak stain. ( rub down again) 5 ) 2 top coats of sikkens. That should do it.

 

[Jim McHugh]

Hi Jim, the doors are beautiful. As for the treatment I would go back to the base colour take all the layers off and start again. I personally would use a top of the range base coat something like sikkens oak. Then I would use 2 coats of sikkens thc it’s the top coat, your house deserves a stunning centre piece like those doors. That would be a labour of love for me. 1) using a sander go back to the wood. 2) wire wool for the tricky bits. 3) use a shellac solution to seal. ( rub down with wet and dry ) 4) sikkens oak stain. ( rub down again) 5 ) 2 top coats of sikkens. That should do it.

Thank you Johnny. Sounds like a lot of work but certainly worth it. And yes, after the doors have been oiled they look stunning but very disheartening after a few days when the patches return. When you say "shellac solution" what do you mean?, is there a ratio and mix with what? I really appreciate your advice and thank you for responding

 

[Johnny Allround]

You can use it direct from the bottle it’s about £9.00 but will make all the difference it will seal the natural wood once you’ve sanded the doors . Oak base coat will enhance the colour and top coat finishes it off completely. You can go to sikkens web site that is full of information. I have used sikkens for many years and although there are similar products on the market in my opinion it’s the stand out product. Bit pricey but the finish will be worth it. Hope this helps.

 

[Jim McHugh]

You can use it direct from the bottle it’s about £9.00 but will make all the difference it will seal the natural wood once you’ve sanded the doors . Oak base coat will enhance the colour and top coat finishes it off completely. You can go to sikkens web site that is full of information. I have used sikkens for many years and although there are similar products on the market in my opinion it’s the stand out product. Bit pricey but the finish will be worth it. Hope this helps.

Ahh Now that I see the 9 pound it makes sense, you're in the UK! It seems Sikkens have different names on their products here and I'll have to try to find the equivalent of the stuff you're talking about here in Canada. As an aside, I'm Irish originally and moved to Canada 30 years ago. I did work in Rugby, Warwickshire for about eight years '07-'15. I loved it there and had great fun with all the work colleagues. Thank you for your help.

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

that’s what my doors go to look like. just nowhere near as bad.
the 2nd cross in the left door. (ie the lower horizontal) seems to be darker and contain moisture?

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

you mentioned the doors were half done when you got the house , so you don’t actually know what happened to them before. I must say they display all the characteristics of doors that have been caustic dipped and not washed correctly..... so I went digging about and come across another thread on here from years back .
started by ‘boustred’ . ‘johnd’ makes a good point about the appearance and possible causes. may be worth you typing ‘boustred’ in the user search .

 

[Jim McHugh]

you mentioned the doors were half done when you got the house , so you don’t actually know what happened to them before. I must say they display all the characteristics of doors that have been caustic dipped and not washed correctly..... so I went digging about and come across another thread on here from years back .
started by ‘boustred’ . ‘johnd’ makes a good point about the appearance and possible causes. may be worth you typing ‘boustred’ in the user search .

Thank you for the suggestion. Before I took over the house it was a rental so it's reasonable to assume the tenants weren't concerned with the appearance or with going to the measures you suggest. It looked to me like someone had started to varnish and either left or simply didn't bother to finish the job. I can't say there was much preparation done either as the doors were very rough when we stripped them and only one side was varnished. I do have some experience with renovations but this is my first Victorian and also my first time working with 100-year-old oak. Thank you I will look up your suggestion.