Uneven colour wooden window frame

[Funandgames]

Looking for ideas on how to even out the colour of this window frame.
It’s uneven on top and bottom and white even on the sides.

It was sanded a year ago and treated with clear yachting varnish but didn’t come out nicely.

I sanded again a bit busy still looking patchy.

I was wandering what I can do to it to even it before I think about painting it all white.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wayners]

Phone the helpline and ask. See what products they advise to use.

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[LeonUk111]

That patchy look is pretty normal when you sand down old frames and just throw clear varnish on top. The wood doesn’t absorb it evenly – some parts are denser, some still have traces of the old finish, and sun exposure makes it all a bit blotchy. If you actually want to even it out before painting, the trick is to strip it right back to bare wood properly, not just a light sand. Once it’s clean, hit it with a wood stain first so the whole thing takes on one consistent colour, then seal it with varnish or polyurethane. If it’s a softer wood, using a wood conditioner before the stain will help a lot with the blotches. Another easy option is to use a tinted varnish instead of clear – it darkens everything and hides the patchiness without too much effort. If none of that gives you a look you like, then yeah, painting it white is the easy fix.

 

[opps]

As above. You need to sand away all traces of the old oil based varnish.

I have a customer with mahogany windows. The exteriors of which are finished with clear Sadolins oil. In time the sun turns the wood yellow. It takes me ages to sand away the finish and then sand back to the brown/red wood. I am fortunate that I have several lovely sanders. I would not even consider doing it by hand. The sanding is probably 40% of the overall job time.