Oak Doors

[John Czaplicki]

I'm about to begin finishing 17 solid red oak interior doors (there goes the rest of my summer). I found that 2 coats of GF Danish Oil (Dark Walnut) is exactly the color/look that I want.

Q 1..... The GF danish oil adds some protection, but I'm wondering if it's enough. The doors are for closets, bathrooms, bedroom, etc. My gut tells me, it's not enough protection even though oak is pretty tough. (I'm really hoping someone has a good argument for this being enough protection so I don't have to do 17x{number of coats} more work! ....but at the same time, I don't want to take them all down and refinish later)

Q 2..... If I add a topcoat, I was thinking of GF Arm-R-Seal Urethane Topcoat. I've never used this product before. Any strong opinions on using this product for this application from those that have used it?

Thought, ideas and suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks.

[Scott Holmes]

I'd be spraying some varnish to avoid all the wiping, etc.

They are your doors: the oil/varnish blend should hold up well on red oak doors.

Maintenance should not be a big problem.

[Neal Clayton]

yeah, so much time...

my personal preference is to spray a fast drying color coat and then brush a varnish on top.

but either way...

here's my anti polyurethane speech again:

Q: what's an infinitely durable wood finish? A: there are none!

even white lead/linseed paint, which we can't get anymore, will start to fail after a few decades. so with that in mind, why not choose finishes that are easy to maintain, rather than coating things with plastic for only a paint salesman's promise of durability?

there are plenty of varnishes out there that a trained monkey with a paintbrush could apply well, that are also very easy to recoat in the future without any sanding, or even removing the door. plus with all of the time you spent building thousands of dollars worth of doors, why would you want the finish to look like any other door bought from the borg?

there are no maintenance free buildings, that goes for the parts of those buildings as well.

[Scott Holmes]

Neal, why not spray the varnish too? Overspray cloud?

[Neal Clayton]

in my case, because i don't have proper air handling, just a small shop without room for such things. shellac i can spray outside with minimal harmful effect, since the alcohol doesn't travel far and the shellac itself is harmless once dry. so that's what i use.

if i could, i would .

[John Czaplicki]

Thanks for the input guys....I'll post some pics of the doors after I get a couple finished..