Wooden door - options for 'whiting' (so you can see grain)

[justanotherguy]

I've got some doors in my house. Functionallty and structurally they are fine. However, I don't really like the quality/colour of the wood, and wondering about options.

I'd either like to go for a regular satin finish, but I recall a few years back seeing some doors that had what I think is called 'whiting'? Only results I can come up with in Google though are to do with fish!

I think my plan of action is to try this technique first on one door, and if I don't like it just go for normal paint. Thing is I don't know how to do the former - is it just chalk? Presumably you'd then have to seal it after?

Thanks

Marcos

 

[LJW61]

What youre thinking of is 'liming'. Its a white/cream wax which you rub into the grain & buff off the excess leaving 'highlighted' grain which has the effect of lightening the overall colour..It only really works well on a wood with a pronounced grain ..
Another method we sometimes use is to lightly coat the wood with slightly thinned eggshell (solvent/oil-based ) then to wipe it off before dry with a turpsy rag , this can leave enough white residue (or any colour you chose)to give the effect of wax liming