Hi,
I've placed a Photo Gallery at:
http://www.twaynesdomain.com/GarageS...ge/garage.html
which has 4 largish but small enough for dialup, thumnails of 4
different shots of a door's stiles and rails. If you're on a
faster line you can click each one and get a larger picture with
more detail.
Is that Oak?
If so, any idea what kind of oak?
I see now I should have removed the router-cloth from under them,
for better definition, but alas, I didn't think about that.
Oh, the last two pics are just something I put up for
relatives to see; a rack came down in the garageg and made a
mess; especially the flourescent bulbs that were on it! I've
removed links to the rest of the site so I don't look like I'm
whoring my web site.

It's one of two doors I've taken apart and am refinishing.
I -think- they're from about the 1960's. The house is a 1950's
design which used to be quaint, but is facing redecoration now
for obvious reasons; like, we're sick of the decor.
Anyway, they're 32" fully louvered doors but pretty heavy.
The hinges are pivots, rather than hinges; interesting. Opens
either way, in or out.
It doesn't appear they were glued; they pried apart easily
with reversed clamp heads and a rubber mallet assist. Their
strength apparently came from very substantial ribbed dowels at
the 4 corners and the middle rail. No evidence of glue anywhere!
Was that a normal design "back then"?
They're pretty banged up, scratched, dented & otherwise
battered with many years of skin oil and dirt, polish, oils, and
so on, so a refinishing was required if I want to keep them,
which I do. The new scheme is country and they go well with it.

Last Question: Can you tell what the existing finish might be?
I've been able to use al oxide sandpaper on both my belt and
my palm sander without any gumming up at all with the exception
of a couple of grime spots on the palm sander that I missed when
I cleaned it.
It's not soft like Shellac, but looks like it. It also had at
least one coat of poly applied over it, but it was so long ago
it's no problem to the sandpaper. One already used belt and
about 5 pieces on my palm sander are all the paper I used on the
door, not counting the slats, which are a real PIA. 80 grit for
the removal.
Color before sanding was brownish yellow, but not like a pine
yellow and it's obviously not pine color. Discoloration was
minimal, really, considering their age and the fact that the sun
hit one side of them (East) but not the other (no facing windows
on one side) west facing side.

I've never seen anything but Shellac that sanded so easily, but
what do I know? Would a light stain/Shellac make a good finish
for this? Or should I go the poly route? They're bedroom doors
so they'll get an average amount of use.

TIA,

Pop
--
Ain't nuttin' new
in the worl'
enny more!

In article c8YRf.1878$Vb.1552@trndny01, "PopS" wrote:
Hi,
I've placed a Photo Gallery at:
http://www.twaynesdomain.com/GarageS...ge/garage.html
which has 4 largish but small enough for dialup, thumnails of 4
different shots of a door's stiles and rails. If you're on a
faster line you can click each one and get a larger picture with
more detail.
Is that Oak?

Sure doesn't look like it to me. Not the piece on the left in your first pic,
anyway -- that one looks a lot like Douglas fir. Hard to tell what the other
one is, because the grain doesn't show up well in the photo. Might be oak, but
doubtful.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
. com...
In article c8YRf.1878$Vb.1552@trndny01, "PopS"
wrote:
Hi,
I've placed a Photo Gallery at:
http://www.twaynesdomain.com/GarageS...ge/garage.html
which has 4 largish but small enough for dialup, thumnails of 4
different shots of a door's stiles and rails. If you're on a
faster line you can click each one and get a larger picture
with
more detail.
Is that Oak?

Sure doesn't look like it to me. Not the piece on the left in
your first pic,
anyway -- that one looks a lot like Douglas fir. Hard to tell
what the other
one is, because the grain doesn't show up well in the photo.
Might be oak, but
doubtful.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Hmm, thanks; That's where my head's been too; about it not being
oak I mean. I'm going lumber hopping this weekend so I'll check
against the Douglas Fir.
Only reason I suggested oak is because a friend suggested
that's what it was, but he wasn't sure either.

Pop

PopS wrote:
Hi,
I've placed a Photo Gallery at:
http://www.twaynesdomain.com/GarageS...ge/garage.html
which has 4 largish but small enough for dialup, thumnails of 4
different shots of a door's stiles and rails. If you're on a
faster line you can click each one and get a larger picture with
more detail.
Is that Oak?

No, I'm pretty sure it's either a fir or a pine. Possibly Douglas Fir,
but from your later comment about the wood not darkening much with
exposure to sunlight over the years, that's not very likely. I've seen
Hemlock with similar wild grain, but not sure of that for the same
reason. Another possibility is Larch.

Then there're the many varieties of pine, almost all of which I haven't
seen in person.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/person...dpics/pine.htm

It's one of two doors I've taken apart and am refinishing.
I -think- they're from about the 1960's. The house is a 1950's
design which used to be quaint, but is facing redecoration now
for obvious reasons; like, we're sick of the decor.
Anyway, they're 32" fully louvered doors but pretty heavy.
The hinges are pivots, rather than hinges; interesting. Opens
either way, in or out.
It doesn't appear they were glued; they pried apart easily
with reversed clamp heads and a rubber mallet assist. Their
strength apparently came from very substantial ribbed dowels at
the 4 corners and the middle rail. No evidence of glue anywhere!
Was that a normal design "back then"?

Dowels were always glued. The ribs are to let the glue slide past and
fully coat the hole/dowel.

Last Question: Can you tell what the existing finish might be?
I've been able to use al oxide sandpaper on both my belt and
my palm sander without any gumming up at all with the exception
of a couple of grime spots on the palm sander that I missed when
I cleaned it.
It's not soft like Shellac, but looks like it. It also had at
least one coat of poly applied over it, but it was so long ago
it's no problem to the sandpaper. One already used belt and
about 5 pieces on my palm sander are all the paper I used on the
door, not counting the slats, which are a real PIA. 80 grit for
the removal.

Standard way of testing for finishes is to work your way through the
solvent groups.

Color before sanding was brownish yellow, but not like a pine
yellow and it's obviously not pine color. Discoloration was
minimal, really, considering their age and the fact that the sun
hit one side of them (East) but not the other (no facing windows
on one side) west facing side.

There are many species and colors of pine.

I've never seen anything but Shellac that sanded so easily, but
what do I know? Would a light stain/Shellac make a good finish
for this? Or should I go the poly route? They're bedroom doors
so they'll get an average amount of use.

It looks like you'll have to even out the color, otherwise your doors
will look like patchwork quilts.

R

Looks like Douglas Fir.

Douglas Fir has a wide range of appearance depending on how
fast it grew and how it was cut. That looks to be old-growth.

Doug FIr should smell piney when cut and there will usually be
some resin oozing out somewhere.

A close-up of the endgrain would definitiviely rule in or rule out
oak. The ray flecks run perpendicular to the grain in the end
grain. Search the web for end-grain pictures of oak or check
some out at the lumberyard to see some examples.

--

FF

Looks like Doug fir to me. One piece is flat sawn. and the other is
quarter sawn.
robo hippy

wrote in message
oups.com...
Looks like Douglas Fir.

Douglas Fir has a wide range of appearance depending on how
fast it grew and how it was cut. That looks to be old-growth.

Doug FIr should smell piney when cut and there will usually be
some resin oozing out somewhere.

A close-up of the endgrain would definitiviely rule in or rule
out
oak. The ray flecks run perpendicular to the grain in the end
grain. Search the web for end-grain pictures of oak or check
some out at the lumberyard to see some examples.

Hmm, didn't know about the end grain business; I'll see if I can
figure that out; thanks.
There's definitely no sign of resin anywhere, new or old, and
it doesn't smell piney at all. It's got more of a musty or
"forest" smell than anything but it's faint, even during the
active sanding with 80 grit.
I tried some water on a spot today under the pivot cover, and
it didn't raise any grain, so that didn't help; tried shellac on
the other side; no raised grain. Now I'm out of room to test g.

No big deal I guess; whatever it is, I really like the look of
it, and plan to reuse it anyway. Some of the grain's very
similar to our new red oak floor, but then again, it's not quite
the same; sort of "exactly the same except", if that makes any
sense.

Thanks for looking; appreciate it.

Pop