When One Door Closes...

How does that saying go?  When one door closes, another one opens.  That's it.  When we closed the door on the staining and polyurethaning (I don't think that's a word) on our front door at our home, an opportunity arose to do the same to the front door at Mom & Dad's home.  It's a mahogany door that faces the western sun, and that results in a lot of UV ray and weather damage.  It hadn't been sanded and restained in years and years.  No time like the present to get started.  We used an air compressor to blow the dust/grime off of the door before we got started.

Then using 150 grit sandpaper on a palm sander, we gave the entire door a good sanding.  We didn't want to get down to the bare wood, though, we just wanted to take the outermost layer of finish off.  In all the little nooks and crannies where the palm sander couldn't touch, we used a sheet of sand paper wrapped around a foam block.  Once the door was sanded, we blew all the dust off with the air compressor and then used damp rags to clean down the surface of the door.

Then we applied a coat of Min Wax Provincial stain using some foam craft brushes.  We just put one coat on.  Take a look at the hardware on the door.  It's a brass knob with a brass face plate.  Time takes its toll on us all and doorknobs are no exception.  The brass hardware is dull and tarnished.  How can we get that cleaned up?  More on that further below.

After an hour or two, we used rags to wipe off any excess stain from the door.

The photo below shows the door after one coat of polyurethane.  The door is noticeably shinier and don't forget the doorknob.  It looks a tad shinier as well.  We found an old can of "Brasso" that we shook up and using elbow grease, rubbed the Brasso on the door handle with an old athletic sock.  It seems to be working a little bit to restore some of the shine and lustre, but it needs lots of finessing to get it shiny.  It has to get shinier than this!

And finally, here's the finished product after 3 coats of polyurethane.   Not too shabby for some amateurs (Dad & I)  Also, look at how the brass door knob shines!  I discovered an old hack for polishing silver or brass.  If you add some fireplace ashes to the paste, it adds abrasive material that more effectively cleans up the tarnish and shines the brass so shiny, you could see your reflection in it.

Final finished product photo:  Mom & Dad in front of their newly refinished front door.

Woo hoo!  Looks mighty spiffy.  (The door and the parents,)