Am considering (per another post) going with a clear finish on my front-facing exterior doors in an old 1840s Greek Revival Farmhouse. The place is “light” on the Greek Revival embelishments, and heavy on the “farmhouse” LOL.
I realize a clear finish is probably not traditional, but I think it might look kind of cool on an all white house and may be easier to maintain than a traditional black gloss finish.
So the question is: if I were going that way, what species of wood would doors from that era typically be built from?
Brian
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In boston----from that era ?
I would bet a donut that mahogany or something of that nature was absolutely readily available.
out in the boondocks----something more local.
They are pine on these here. We have actually built whole walls around saving the old door - poor or not, LOL. bUt the pine of that era ios a far better wood than any you are likely to find now, so fir might be the better choice.
I'm doing one now that had pine but I'm replacing with mohogany topiaint white. M is a solid stable wood and I opnly want to do it once.
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If it is a real farmhouse it was local and probably pine that was painted with a refractory or milk paint. It might have been fir or spruce. The comment about the pine of yesteryear and the pine of today was dead on. They are just not the same wood. The old virgin growth heart pine was a straighter, stronger, and more decay resistant than any of todays woods.
If you're building the door and are just getting enough wood to make it, it may be worthwhile to look into one of the old growth timber recycling places. It's a big business, and in the back of Fine Woodworking.
I've never yet seenm a door built from spruce and hope I never do.Spruce grain twists like the whorls in the water as you flush the toilet. That twist progresses and regresses with changes in the weather, so the door would never fit tight.
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Spars and other wing parts are made from spruce in airplane construction. Today's Bellancas are made thus.
But spruce ain't just spruce; there are many species. Sitka is probably the one used for the airframe parts. It is the preferred species, also, for instruments, such as harps, guitar and violin tops, and piano boards.
Once went salmon fishing out of the Columbia River port of Astoria, WA, and on the way, passed the forest that had, marked with a road sign, the world's largest extant sitka. Dropped in to see it. Wow!
Thanks guys. Figgered it might have been HP b/c a lot of the structural memembers in the house are. It's my favorite wood, hands down, for almost any application... it's just so bloody expensive! Boy would a natural heart pine door look good, though! Man. Then again... now that I think about it. I just took 8 beautiful 13' long 2x6 floor joists out of the place and they're sitting in my basement. Would be great to have them milled up into a door! It's the old pit sawn stock and still shows the saw marks.
Hoping to do HP floors in the Kithen but need to research how it will do over radiant. Initial research indicates that quarter sawn 3" might be stable and pretty good. Am hoping to install a lower water temp floor system (warmboard, maybe) if $ allows, but will see.
Fir could look pretty nice for the doors, too, and would probably be my choice over any newly harvested pine.
Thanks, guys. Go Pats!
Brian
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Edited 1/7/2006 11:21 am ET by homebaseboston
Heart pine floors are very stable when close verticle grain. I've used over radiant with no problem in 1x4 sizing ( face at 3-5/16")
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