What a great video,he explained the process so well,made it look easy and I know it's probably not,but watching him do it has given me enough confidence to do it with some unfinished doors I have purchased.
While I haven't tried it myself, I would think you could use the same process on pine doors. Pine is a softer wood sure it is well sealed before glazing or the glaze will soak in and ruin the door.
Herein lies the advantage of working on multiple doors. I work on one side one day and let it sit before working on the other side the next day. I wish you well with your project!
Great video. How many coats of stain did you you use? At least two coats are needed in most applications but in your detailed steps you outline each phase but didn't provide that extra detail about the staining. Staining is typically two or three coats before moving onto first clear coat. I am building a wine room - with LOTS of knotty alder. T&G knotty alder panels for the ceiling, knotty alder custom framing (both structural and aesthetic) and then knotty alder wine racks. LLOOTTSS of staining.
Your wine room sounds like it will be beautiful. To answer your question, I only stain once. There is no need for multiple coats of stain assuming you achieve the color you want with one application. The same applies to the glazing step - just one coat of stain wiped clean and allowed to dry before a final coat of urethane. I hope this helps but please let me know if you still have questions or concerns. Thanks for watching!
Yes - it will be a bit harder to properly sand between each coat of urethane but otherwise it should be fine. I would only further stress that you carefully follow the pattern for finishing each side as shown in the video.
We have a lot of trim along with two doors so if we condition it and don't get it done within the two hours and come back the next day when we have to re-condition? Kindest regards
Hi Kim - once the glaze has completely dried, apply another coat of the ARM-R-SEAL. This will both seal in the glaze and provide a nice finish to the door itself.
Awesome! Try the glazing - it really produces cool results regardless of what you're staining. And aren't we have lucky to have the park! Stop and introduce yourself some time.
So grateful for this video- we are starting a cabin renovation and are planning to use a lot of knotty alder! Love it’s rustic beauty! My question is would you use the same approach for knotty alder trim? Thank you!!
Hey I love the way this door turned out!! My husband is looking at purchasing the products so he can start on our door for our new house… I was curious on the polyurethane/varnish you use what type of finish is that (gloss, semi gloss, flat, etc)
So glad to have found this video. Thank you!! I am getting ready to stain knotty alder doors for our home and would have never thought to use a wood conditioner beforehand. Also, I love the look of the glaze so I’m going to use that, too, to make the doors as beautiful as possible.
Hello again and thank you for your response. We have a knotty alder door which looks exactly like the one in your great video. We were wondering if you have ever used just a clear polyurethane without stain? What color would we expect to see?
Two thoughts come to mind - I am uncertain as to how uniform the finish may be given the way alder grains are. You may still want to use a prestain conditioner but I'm not sure. Secondly, I think the finish would be very light in color. I am not sure if it would compliment the wood itself or not.
Alder loves stain, so unless yk that. Expect all the strokes & wipes to show while the wood just absorbs basically all the stain you put on it, but keep in mind those doors aren't solid alder. They're jointed & basically layered with the alder veneer, so it's much different than staining a solid piece of knotty alder. I'd say probably much easier~
Have you consider lacquer over polyurethane? I am leaning toward lacquer spray but looking disadvantages to poly... thanks if you have any tips for me. ( in my case I am looking for clear coat no stains..)
Just bought some unfinished knotty alder barn doors for our bedroom closet and looking for some tips and tricks to working with a wood I've never worked with. Excellent video. Great teacher! Excited to get started now!
We had to replace an extra wide entry door (48"x 80") to our home and had to custom order a door that would fit the wide opening. We ended up ordering a knotty alder door. I had minimal experience working with stains and felt intimidated by taking on this task. That was until I saw your video carefully detailing the step-by-step process. I purchased all of the same materials including the Java Gel Stain to give the door that final glazed look and wow what a surprise....it even passed my wife's quality control inspection! I am so appreciative of the detailed explanation that you provided. It helped me avoid ruining a custom sized (and very expensive) door. Thank You so much for your guidance!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO. I wish I could post a picture of my door. I followed your steps exactly and my door turned out amazing. My husband just put it up and I can't wait to replace the three other doors on my first floor. I live in a log home and the original 6-panel doors were outdated. This knotty alder door gave the home a fresh look and the stain/glaze is beautiful. Thank you again.
Yes Lisa - a light sanding same as between the urethane coats helps the glazing process and preps the door for another coat of urethane after the glaze.
Hi Rodi, Thank you so much for the video. Oil base top coat is not available in Ca. Do you think "General Finishes" High Performance Water Base TopCoat will work as well with your staining technique ? your doors are beautiful. Im hoping for the same results.
Hi Jovita - Thank you for your feedback. I do think you could achieve very similar results with the water-based products but I have not tried it myself.
Great job of educating this DIYer. As Rodi says, be careful of the stain color. Make sure the stain and glaze are the look you want. I was told to use a light stain with the glaze I chose, Whiskey Black.
Hi Rodi, Thank you so much for a fantastic video. We moved into a home with a Knotty Alder exterior door that has been well abused by the sun and has quite a few splits in the lower portion of the door and the previous home owner switched out the door handles and yes you can see where the old ones are. My initial thought was to replace the door entirely as I could not find any video that gave me hope that I wouldn't cause a further hot mess of the door if I tried to "fix" it! Your video has given me hope! Here is my question, do you have a product that you would suggest me using to fill in the splits? They are not very big, but are there, so maybe they might be less noticeable if I did not try to fill them and let the urethane soak into the splits? I do plan on putting on the extra coat of urethane in the end, so 4 total. Thanks again Rodi!
Hi Pam - I am sorry that I do not have a specific wood filler recommendation. I would imagine that using any good quality wood filler wood do the trick but I am not sure how differently they may take stain. I would look for something that specifically states it can be stained. I wish you well and am confident your door will refinish very nicely! Good luck and maybe you can post a picture or two when you are done. Cheers!
Excellent video and steps. Just completed 5 doors via these steps and used same products. Cabinet quality finish once completed. Used the Stak Rack System to stack doors during the various 24hr drying periods. This stacking system allowed both sides to be completed and the ability to do all doors on a sawhorse table then stack once completed. Thank you for taking the time to do such a detailed video and instructions.