What to treat stripped antique pine doors and frames

[luke2443]

Hi, please could anyone help. I'm in the process of restoring an old farm house. I have started stripping the paint off the pine doors/ frames. I love the look of wood and would prefer not to paint them. I've heat gunned the 8-10 layers of paint off. I tried using paint stripper but it was not effective on the many layers of paint.
Now I've stripped and sanded the doors back. They are by no means perfect but I like them.
What's the best thing to treat then with?
I was thinking of a type of oil finish that might ever so slightly stain them a bit darker to cover up the imperfections to give an nice natural looking finish.
Any reccomendations please would be apreciated.

Thanks

Luke

 

[AndyT]

Boiled linseed oil has several advantages. It's cheap (about £3 for a 500ml bottle). It's a simple product from flax (linen) seeds. You can brush it on or wipe it on with a rag. (You might want to thin the first coat with turpentine but that's not essential.) You must go back after an hour or so and wipe off the surplus or you risk getting a sticky mess. You can then build up extra layers - as many as you want - till it looks right. It's good at making dry 'thirsty' wood look nice again. And if you do tire of it, it's a good primer for painting over!

 

[Jacob]

Paint is best. Anything else will look a mess.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

=D> =D> +1! paint them - preferably white. They look awful oiled or varnished.

 

[SeanJ]

If i had your doors and wanted them all natural/old pine looking you've got to unify them in colour and appearance. Don't know how your fixed but i'd either:

a/ Bleach and Finish: get a sack/big bottle of caustic soda from somewhere, carefully mix in a bucket and generously apply with a sponge and gauntlets, washing off with a pressure hose afterwards. They will look 'antique' in colour and be unified in colour in theory, ready to lightly sand and finish with whatever you choose. The caustic and pressure wash combo should level all the patchiness left by the gun/paint stripper process.

b/Stain & Finish: after sanding with your best effort get hold of a good antique pine water stain, generously apply and wipe off, proceed to sand and finish with your choice of finish.

c/just paint.

I apreciate the first 2 may not be for the average diyer but they'd give you the best colour and appearance IMO.

Good luck, Sean