Staining 6-panel (prehung) doors

[Jason346]

Should I remove the stoppers (and stain separately) prior to staining the jamb? If yes, what is the best way to remove the stoppers without marring the oak on the jamb. That sucker seems like it's attached pretty well which leads me to believe it doesn't go anywhere for the staining/finishing process.

[Sponsored Links]

[cx]

Maybe I'm confused by the title. Jamb don't care what kinda doors go in'em. If you're talking about the stops, the strips that run around the center of the jamb legs, no, you don't want to remove them except under unusual circumstances. Just stain and finish with everything in place.

And be happy you get to play with real nice oak jambs. :)

[Jason346]

Thanks cx. Sorry for the nomenclature confusion, wasn't really sure what the doo-hickeys the stops were mounted on were called. Guess I'll refer to them as "jamb legs" from now on.

[John Bridge]

Hi ya Jason. :)

You have a head jamb and two side jambs. The more ornate frame parts are called casings.

What shade of stain you using on the oak? And would you be interested in hearing about pre-stain sealer? ;)

[Jason346]

I might have wanted to hear about it 3 weeks ago before I started staining the trim that needs to match these doors. I suspect a pre-stain sealer may have assisted me in my oil based poyurethane trials. I have since switched to water based and am having much better results. I am using Minwax Golden Cherry. I have already stained about 1100 lineal feet of baseboard/crown molding and have about 250 feet of that completed with 4 coats of polyurethane.
JB, tell me about the pre-stain sealer, I may be interested the next time I have a big woodworking project to undertake.

[John Bridge]

Geez, you're already an advanced stainer if you know about water-base. I've never used the stuff. I was always afraid of it.

You know how stains will sink into soft areas of the wood and make a splotchy mess out of your work, right? If you use the pre-stain products, you won't have that problem. The sealer will inhibit the penetration of the stain and keep it more or less even. You have much more control over the density of the stain.

I've done a lot of woodworking, and I've built a lot of furniture from oak, especially red oak, which I love dearly. I've also done a lot of work with white pine, which can be really mean when you try to stain it. ;)

CX is also an accomplished woodworker, and so is Dave M., our systems guy. There are others, too. Harry in Ontario. Geez, now I'm gonna leave people out. Bob Campbell, our injineer.

:D

[cx]

And when you need to discuss your door hanging in more detail, you will refer to the jamb leg with the hinges on it as the hinge jamb, and the other leg as the strike jamb.

The casing needn't be ornate, but it's the part of the trim that conceals the gap between the jamb and the finished wall. The profile will depend upon the style of rest of the house - or it should. I frequently case with 1x4 out here in the country, sometimes even rough cedar 1x4. Difficult to hide anything when the trim is that plain, though.


Red oak is one of my favorites, too. I've never used a pre-stain sealer on that type of wood, but most of the time I don't stain it at all. Sometimes customer's gotta have it stained, and I've never had a problem with it. Pine, as John suggests, can be really bitchy to stain, but I think the very worst is soft Maple. You can ruin a whole lot of that stuff by thinking you can get by without sealing.

Axe me how do I know that. :)





What were we here to talk about? :D

[Davy]

This thing is derailed anyway, a few weeks ago the hardwood floor man on the job installed a bunch Mesquite flooring ( 1/2" x 5"). Home owner didn't like it after it was installed and long story short, they ripped it out and I ended up with it. It's still raw and I have about 900 ft of it. My wife wants it in the living room. I like the hand scraped look but I think this stuff is too hard to scrape much. I told my wife it's gonna take alot of new tools to get that wood installed. How did I get myself into this mess? She wants to redo the fireplace so I 'm gonna take down the brick and put up river rock. There's a few more tools. I might have to go to the advice forum and get some help when this comes up.:)

[cx]

Is that stuff center-matched, Davy?

How did they install it?

How did they remove it?

What kind of lengths did you end up with?

Only Mes-keet flooring I've ever seen was custom made by my local custome millwork guy. It was center-matched, all shorts and in three inch widths, but it was nearly a full three quarters thick. Really pretty stuff. And hard as a bitch, of course. Can't imagine being able to take it up and still have much usable wood.



John's the one derailed it, by the way. If y'all are keepin' score. :D

[John Bridge]

Well, I'm not the one started talkin' 'bout barbeque, and that's what mesquite is good for. :)

[Davy]

CX, I don't know what you mean by center- matched.

It was installed over a recessed slab and plywood. They used 1 1/2 " staples. I didn't see them take it up but I think they used a crow bar or a flat bar. I'd say 99% of the staples stayed in the plywood, I had maybe 30 or so boards that had a staple in them. The boards are in good shape with only a chip out of the tongue where the staples were at. They dont have tongues and grooves on the ends. You are right about shorts, the longest board is 30-36 inches with alot of 10-18 inch ones. It should make a purty floor.:)

[cx]

Sorry, Davy, I missed that.

Center-matched is mostly the same as saying tongue and groove, but there are different styles. And the boards you have would be said to be only edge-matched, and not end-matched. At least in the circles I've traveled.

I'm not at all surprised that all your boards are shorts, tough to get any long lengths from those trees. Actually, I'm surprised that they are five inches wide, even.

Did they sand that floor after installation? I'm wondering if you've got enough wood remaining above the tongue to sand a new installation.

That stuff will make a beautiful floor. 'Bout as hard as a low grade ceramic. Hell, harder than Saltillo! :D

[Davy]

CX,

This is a picture of the 1/2 inch mesquite and a regular 3/4 hardwood.

[Davy]

As you can see, the tongue is alittle smaller and close to the bottom edge. The floor never was sanded.

[cx]

Yeah, they did a nice milling job on that stuff, just the way you woulda ordered it. Plenty room for finishing in place.

The color looks really light on that board. Is that board on top red oak? The mesquite flooring I'd seen was much darker than that.

[Davy]

CX, you won't believe this but the piece on top is chestnut taken from a 200 year old barn. They had it milled and installed it in a different house. It has alot of pin holes and knots in it, rough look. I brought a piece home to show my wife. I was told by the builder it cost 40 grand for the chestnut and milling. I guess it's only money.

I have problems with my camera, everything turns out too light. I'll learn how to ajust it in time. The mesquite is darker than it appears in the picher.

[Sonnie Layne]

www.flash.net/~ccwdwrks/

mesquite wood link. Guy sells off-fall as well.

[Davy]

Thanks Sonny, I will need to brush up on mesquite hardwood, that will help alot.