Bit of a strange topic, but Ive had a front door made from Oak for a restoration Im doing.

I want to preserve it as best I can without changing the colour too much. Anbody have any experience of decent products? Im not interested in varnishes or other ‘paint’ style treatments.
I had considered Tung oil but am not sure it would withstand a ‘North Pennine winter’.

Input appreciated!

Ive used quite a few osmo products over the years with oak. Not been disappointed so far.

http://www.osmouk.com/previewpage.cfm?bookid=book001&chapter=57&page=121

Nealry all treatments will darken the patina of the wood, some more than others. personally, my experiences with Osmo is that it requires annual maintenance. If you are okay with that, then it’s as good as any other varnish/oil products with a good level of UV protection.

You could choose not to treat the door and it will silver/grey with the UV from natural light and you can restore the original colour every so often with oxalic acid crystals dissolved in water.

As for oils, I’ve no experience of Tung oil. Danish oil can work but will certainly darken the patina.

Despite your reluctance towards the varnish or paint finishes, Sadolin clear weather’s very well, the UV filters within it will also darken the oak but it’s a relatively hard wearing product and recoating is generally straightforward.

I’m interested to hear of other suggestions too 🙂

Thanks for the advice so far. I had seen the osmo products from previous google searches.
I guess I need to establish exactly what it is I want to protect it from. If I were to leave it untreated I’m guessing it wouldnt be any less ‘weather tight’? Reason I ask is that I do like the way the oak weathers naturally, but I dont want to end up with a knackered door…

In that case, you could apply Danish oil to the end grain of the vertical boards at the bottom and top of the door to reduce water ingress and will leave the showing faces unfinished

DD, does the door ever get wet or is it well sheltered?

At present it will get quite a bit of weather as it is on the top of a pretty exposed hillside. it is my intention to build an oak framed porch over the front door in the future, but this may well not be for another year or so.
slackalice – Im not sure i fully understand. The door is constructed of a frame around 3 inch thick with boards of 1.5 inch held within this frame. The boards are then braced internally for support. Do you mean I should oil the frame section of the door?

I need it to look good as it is 4 foot wide and massively noticeabe – it was originally a blacksmiths entrance, hence the big dimensions!

Yep, the Styles, or frame of the door. The top and bottom of those two bits, the door sounds lovely, any pics?

Not a chance I’d leave it unprotected. When oak gets wet, you’ll get those black stains around any joins where water lingers, and especially where grain is exposed. (I’m assuming there’s no end-grain on show though.) Those black stains are nigh on impossible to get rid of once they’ve happened.

Tbh, OP, my expertise is in internal finishes as I don’t really get involved with external doors or their finishes. However, if you want a nude look, there’s a company called Broadleaf (broadleaftimber.com) who sell a Nude Oil. I’ve used this on floors and it hardly colours the timber at all. I use it maybe two or three times a year and I’m consistently amazed at how it doesn’t colour the timber. It’s an emulsion which you can apply with a brush, or short pile mini-roller. It’s only sold as an internal finish on their website though, so I assume it probably wouldn’t cut it as an external until the door is further protected from the elements.

Any oils will deepen the shade of the timber. I’ve not come across one that doesn’t yet, no matter how much they promise. They do soak into the timber though and give a hydrophobic surface payer – but they’re not apply and forget. You will need to renew them perhaps yearly.

You could use a two-part water based lacquer from Bona e.g. Traffic (bombproof floor protection for commercial environments – but I often use it for domestic, as it leaves a nice pale finish (though a few shades darker than bare timber.) With all water based finishes, the door should be sanded down to say 120 or 150 grit to close up the grain. Then apply one or two coats of sealer/primer, knock back raised grain with 180/240 grit, then two or three coats of two part finish. A bit time consuming, but it would leave your door well-protected.

Sorry, but the non-colouring external oak finish is yet to be invented (or it has and I haven’t heard of it).

No pics as yet I’m afraid – I’m working offshore at the moment and the wife has just informed me it is ready for collection on saturday.
I am tempted to do the whole thing in clear osmo but concerned it will alter it’s natural colour. I’ll have to ask for the offcuts to do some tests on i think.
With regards maintenance, I’m happy to have to treat it once a year or so.

DD – thankyou for the reply.
I will have a look at the broadleaf stuff you mentioned. As I said in my post just then, Im happy enough to treat it once a year or so. When I decided to get the door in oak I resigned myself to that.
It seems like I cant yet have my cake and eat it!

Top tips from Deadly 🙂

Do you mean Bourne Traffic wax? If so, have used the same on internal oak ledge and brace doors and will agree re the only slight discolouration. Didn’t feel ok to say it would work outside though, maybe it’ll be okay?

As for cleaning the black stains, these usually occur due to the tannin coming into contact with ferrous fastenings. If the peeps have used stainless or brass, silicon bronze etc, the blackening will be much less likely. The Oxalic acid I referred to will clean these to some extent, especially if brushed on with a higher concentration of crystals to water. 🙂

more useful information. Cheers guys.
Come on then DD – If it was your door, what would you use?!

Interesting thread this. We’ve got oak doors & windows. I CBA with annual maintenance so it’s silvered over time.

Tried Sikkens and Danish oil in the past. Neither were particularly good.

If something’s sheltered though either of the above is fine.

We’re oak throughout. All doors and windows. We found that Danish Oil works a treat indoors, but you get the dreaded blue mould outside with it. Tung oil seems to be the answer, at least so far. Good luck.