On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 09:42:47 +0100, Mike Abbott wrote:

Any general thoughts / comments on appropriate finishing als welcome!

Oil alone isn't really an adequate finish for a front door. It's OK
for some external oak, but a door is just too obvious and needs
something that looks a bit more "finished". I'd suggest either a _gel_
poly varnish, or a Danish oil.

Gel polys are applied by wiping with a rag. Because they're applied so
thin, two coats in a reasonable finish, but it doesn't have the ugly
plastic look of most polys.

Danish oils are a generic term for oil + varnish mixes, and there's a
lot of difference between brands. They have more UV and weather
resistance than plain oils. For best results, try a yacht chandlers -
there's a range of decorative wood finishes of the danish oil variety
that are intended to look their best even if this requires re-coating
every few years for best appearance (depending on how much weather you
get) Avoid "spar" varnishes though, those are intended to be proof
against movement and often don't look particularly good close up. As
they're only a small varnish component, then you can re-coat these
easily in the future without needing to strip the old finish.

You might even use an extra-hard formaldehyde floor finish (Rustin's
floorcoat), then knock the gloss back a little with rottenstone or
pumice. Because it's so hard you can do this, whereas a poly is too
soft to really allow surface matting.

Another trick (in the appropriate situation) is just to ammonia fume
the thing and make it look old, then apply a plain oil finish and
allow it to work its way through to ancient.

--
Smert' spamionam