What finish for old external oak door ?
 

Hello.
I have this oak door. 7ft 6ins high, 4ft wide and 4ins thick. Made in 1917
but I've had the pleasure of living with it for only the last 23 years, it
is still in lovely condition.
This afternoon whilst giving it the semi-annual coat of teak oil I wondered
if there was a more modern/better alternative to such oil. The thought
struck me that whilst oil is a traditional finish, and has worked well so
far, oil and (rain)water are not happy bedfellows.

Thanks

Nick.

What finish for old external oak door ?
 

Nick wrote:
Hello.
I have this oak door. 7ft 6ins high, 4ft wide and 4ins thick. Made in 1917
but I've had the pleasure of living with it for only the last 23 years, it
is still in lovely condition.
This afternoon whilst giving it the semi-annual coat of teak oil I wondered
if there was a more modern/better alternative to such oil. The thought
struck me that whilst oil is a traditional finish, and has worked well so
far, oil and (rain)water are not happy bedfellows.

Thanks

Nick.


If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

What finish for old external oak door ?
 

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Nick wrote:
Hello.
I have this oak door. 7ft 6ins high, 4ft wide and 4ins thick. Made in 1917
but I've had the pleasure of living with it for only the last 23 years, it
is still in lovely condition.
This afternoon whilst giving it the semi-annual coat of teak oil I wondered
if there was a more modern/better alternative to such oil. The thought
struck me that whilst oil is a traditional finish, and has worked well so
far, oil and (rain)water are not happy bedfellows.

Thanks

Nick.


If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Agreed, the beauty of oiled finishes is it is damn easy to spruce them
up. The minute you slap on some poly or varnish, assuming you can get
them to stick, you are saddled with having to sand the buggers to get
the next coat to stick. And the sit on the wood not in it, so you can
only put so many coats on before you have take them all back.

So resist the temptation, sometimes the folks back then were onto a good
thing and we haven't improved it.

Peter
--
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