Bringing tired old oak kitchen doors back to life

[Anonymous]

When I bought my house, the kitchen came with dark stained oak panelled cabinet doors.

These seem to have lost a lot of their 'life' and seem a bit dull. I tried a rubbing a small inconspicuous area with some wire wool, but this didn't really help.

Any ideas on how to bring them back to life as I'd rather not have the expense of replacing them? Although it could make an interesting little woodworking project.......

My next effort was going to be clear wax, but I'm not sure if that's suitable for a kitchen?

Regards,
Mark

 

[Argus]

You need to try to find if they are stained or fumed.

Proprietary staining is usually a solvent based process and the actual stain is a dye. This has the habit of creeping along open grained timber by capillary action. The result can be an irregular penetration of the dye below the surface. In my experience, once stained always stained.

Fuming isn't used much these days, but it consists of exposing oak to fumes from dilute ammonia. A reaction with the tannic acids in the oak produces a darkening of the surface that increase with concentration and exposure time. It tends to be only surface deep, i.e., where the ammonia fumes has come into contact with the surface. Where the fumes were covered up the wood will be clear. It may react with chemical bleaches, but seek advice.

Sorry to be a bit negative, but you need to dig a little further……….

 

[Anonymous]

I suspect that it's stained.

The staining doesn't look patchy as such, just dulled, and in need of bringing back to life - either recoat with varnish, whatever would have been done originally I guess.

Cheers.
Mark