Mahogany Door Refinish

[Wildey]

I am refinishing two extremely weathered mahogany boat doors. One side is painted and the other side was varnished a long time ago and is now void of any finish. The weathered side of the doors has turned silver with exposure. I want to strip the paint and spar varnish the entire door.

The finish under the paint has been protected and still has it's rich mahogany color.

How can I restore the weathered side of the wood so it matches the stripped side?

Sanding would take a lot of the wood off and I'm worried about losing the sharp details. Is there a chemical way to restore the wood?

Thanks for your advice.

Dave

[ken mcclure]

Try deck cleaner first. You'll still have to sand some.

[Concordia..41]

It’s more common for teak to silver with exposure. Mahogany generally bleaches blonde from sunlight or darkens from water damage. Usually a light sanding will bring mahogany back to that rich red color. You’ll be surprised how close to the surface the color lurks.

If you’ve got detailed areas like carving or trim molding, Woodworkers Supply used to carry little rubber concave and convex pieces just perfect for wrapping the sandpaper around. In the alternative, find someone who bought one of those detail sanders, and borrow the attachments.

If worst comes to worst, you’d be surprised how much you can accomplish with a piece of sand paper wrapped around a Popsicle stick ;)

[seayou77]

A few ideas that work for me; I use staight sudsy amonia, It'll take the last bits of varnish off and raise the grain a bit, rinse and neutralise with vinegar before sanding.A scrub with scotch-brite pad the red one for fine or bronze-wool. If that's not aggressive enough to achieved the look, I use Zud heavy duty cleanser, check the label there are other products what your looking for here is oxalic acid, that'll really bleach the wood but not like the wood bleaches which are too much, Make up a pot of hot water to disolve it then slop it on and leave it overnite, also requires vinegar neutraliser. Practice this on an old piece of scrap what you run into is sanding thru the bleached wood into the rich red which will show after you stain. Another concern is weakening the glue joints. Not seeing the piece, but If the glue is tired I'd rather find out now, in the shop than after it's finished.
This method has been used, with some pleasing results. Rubber gloves and dust masks! smile.gif

[Bob Smalser]

WB 169 has a piece on doing it with oxalic acid...worked better than I expected but it'll still need a touch of sanding.

[Allen Foote]

Sorry Dude....but they will never match. The only way to get the same natural color out of the silver side is to sand 1/2 off of the surface....and you'll still have imperfections.

It is time to bleach and stain. Stain both sides so that you are matching stain not natural coloring. Choose a stain that is compatable with the natural side....use a red mahogany as opposed to a brown mahogany. I use 2 coats of sealer over any stain and then varnish from there.

[Nicholas Carey]

Assuming the door is teak and not mahogany (the silver color indicates teak to me)...

look for a product call Te-Ka. It's a 2-part wood bleach/teak cleaner that preferred 'round these parts for revivifying worn out teak. It's nasty stuff — it will turn your usual polysulfide compounds into a sticky goo. But it does a great job on teak.

Bear in mind that, depending on the degree of UV damage, the damaged wood may need to be removed via sanding. One of the things that UV light does to wood is destroy the lignins that hold it together.

But cleaning it well and then hitting it with a coat or two of oil will probably do wonders.

[Matriarch]

Of course, I expect to receive MAJOR flack on this suggestion, but here goes: I have had great results with the judicious pressure washing of old weathered mahogany. Naturally, there's a little technique involved but it really removes all the gray to the point where it can be sanded much more easily and faster than if sanding from scratch. I would advise using a practice board first to fine hone your technique. A pressure washer can be as damaging as a belt sander in inexperienced hands.