oak wood front doors - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

kell490 · 10-04-2009, 10:47 AM

A friend at my regular job has some 8' high front doors on his house he wants me to blast. The doors face east and the sun faded them bad in 2 years his wife tried to put a new coat of poly over the bad coat and it turned white. Then she tried to use a pressure washer on it to remove it all which made it worse. I have soda, maxstrip, and fine crushed glass. If I use soda will it react with new stain or change the color? I know crushed glass will raise the grain because I have seen it on pine not sure about oak. I could get some walnut or corncob I have never used either of those. He lives on large property so dust and noise isn't an issue.

Betterblast · 10-04-2009, 11:44 AM

I have your answer Kell. Walk away from it. I have tried soda walnut glass and limestone. All very fine grades. I have shot oak as I have many old skids laying around. It is not possible in my expeience to do a decent job. Although oak is a tough wood it still has a fairly wide grain and the softer spaces evaperate and you get that 16th of an inch raised look. A new oak door re hung may be $1000 . I would at the least do a sample on any other oak you have around,the lumber yards all have scrap bins, and get his ok to try.
Only way is the old way. a couple of hours with a palm sander and lots of 60 then 100 grit paper and new poly. Then you can get paid instead of you paying him. Good luck.

Betterblast · 10-04-2009, 12:06 PM

I just noticed you said they are a pair of 8 foot doors. That could actually be six thousand and up to replace. 'Run forrest run!'

kell490 · 10-04-2009, 12:27 PM

I told him we will test soda on the bottom edge of the door where you can't see it and if he doesn't like it he just pays $20 for my gas its like 40miles from my house. I'm glad you responded so fast I had planned on going out there in an hour. I will call him tell him what you said so even soda and the others will raise the grain.

kell490 · 10-04-2009, 01:50 PM

He called me back and said to forget it now he didn't want the grain raised you saved me a long drive.

Betterblast · 10-04-2009, 03:55 PM

No problem Kell. Go ahead and test on a bunch of scrap. I think you will agree it is only good for an older shed or even t1 11 wood, which is the ply wood that already looks like that. I even tried a 70 micron soda from armex. Once you have enough pressure to strip a coating it's too much for the wood. Poplar wasn't too bad because it has a very tight grain and wore down kind of even. They would all need conventional sanding though after to look cherry.

blastserv · 10-04-2009, 05:33 PM

i fully agree with betterblast...wood is just not on the list of substrates you can do a successful job on.i have tried all of the said medias including cob and it just ruins what you blast...i walked away from this exact kind of job a month or two ago.one thing you can suggest is franmar makes soy gel stripper and it does work on polyurethanes.apply...let sit...scrape off excess...wipe down with damp cloth a numerous amount of times.