I have finished stripping down my front door and now its time to
finish it. I believe it is mahagony and I would like to keep the
finish natural. I am planning on using the Minwax Helmsman Spar
Urethane as a finish coat. My question is do I still need to stain the
door, or can I just use the urethane on top of the unfinished wood?

Mikepier wrote:
I have finished stripping down my front door and now its time to
finish it. I believe it is mahagony and I would like to keep the
finish natural. I am planning on using the Minwax Helmsman Spar
Urethane as a finish coat. My question is do I still need to stain the
door, or can I just use the urethane on top of the unfinished wood?

Stain is not necessary. Not even desirable IMO.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On May 13, 5:33*am, Mikepier wrote:
I have finished stripping down my front door and now its time to
finish it. I believe it is mahagony and I would like to keep the
finish natural. I am planning on using the Minwax Helmsman Spar
Urethane as a finish coat. My question is do I still need to stain the
door, or can I just use the urethane on top of the unfinished wood?

Just finish it, check your work by coating the door with paint
thinner, that will let you see what it will look like finished and if
any more work is needed. Use gloss for the first coats , Satin is
cloudy and wont allow as much of the grain to show through, you can
leave it gloss if you want.

"Mikepier" wrote in message
...
I have finished stripping down my front door and now its time to
finish it. I believe it is mahagony and I would like to keep the
finish natural. I am planning on using the Minwax Helmsman Spar
Urethane as a finish coat. My question is do I still need to stain the
door, or can I just use the urethane on top of the unfinished wood?

Stain is used to make low cost woods like pine look like more expensive
woods. I refuse to put stain on quality woods like oak, cherry, walnut,
etc.

Put at least 3 coats on that door. Sand with 120 grit, then 220. Put the
first coat on diluted about 15% with mineral spirits. sand with 220 grit,
then a full strength coat, sand with 220, then a third coat. You may want
to wait 2 weeks, sand with 400 grit and put a fourth coat.