Stripping internal doors

[niallj]

I have just bought a typical victorian mid-terrace and luckily it has all the internal doors still intact upstairs (even with the old box locks which is great!). In the main bedroom I've started stripping paint off the original cupboard doors (the ones usually found on the right of the chimney breast) using a heat gun. Once this is done should I lightly sand the wood and then wipe down with water with a bit of washing up liquid?

Once the wood is ready I want to treat it. Ideally I'd like to retain the old wood look so can any one recommend any oil/wax treatment products that would do this?

I'm thinking of doing the same to the timber fireplace surround in the same bedroom and maybe the skirting boards but undecided on this as it maybe a bit too much. I think the skirting boards are the original ones as they a much higher than modern ones.

Cheers

 

[Ian Bond]

Softwood would normally be painted, or maybe grained to look like more expensive hardwood.

I stripped some of my woodwork, but am now repainting it as it just looks wrong.

 

[thiambal]

Be aware that your doors probably have layers of lead paint on the them! In which case I imagine that a heat gun is not recommended.

 

[niallj]

I think the doors look good even though I haven't cleaned them yet. I was under the impression getting them dipped was a bad idea and had read on here that using a heat gun was a much better way of going about it. I have been using a mask while doing this in anticipation the paint had lead. I'm just after some basic guidelines of how to clean the wood up and treat it. Being a novice I've found it hard to find any guidelines that don't into details that are way over my head.

 

[Juju]

I had a bathroom door made from reclaimed wood and just used Briwax on it as I liked the natural colour of it - it looked nice and wasn't affected by the humidity of the little steamy bathroom. On my external door I stripped the whole thing with a heat gun (never again) and painted the outside and used a wood stain on the inside (mainly cos I had it left over from the new back door).