My wife made me do it. She is sitting here, watching me type to make sure I don’t fake it.
We have a steel front door w/a large beveled glass piece in it. Ditto for a large door from the living room to the gallery having the utility room and laundry on it. Then – wonder of wonders – there is the steel prison door entry into our ‘neath the stairwell tornado shelter. We would like to make them look like stained wood – you know, a foe (or is it faux?) finish.
That prison door is something else. 300 lbs. Door never saw the jamb till it was installed – by two rather strong men, I might add. Perfect fit. Opens smoother than hot lard on a doorknob. Door & jamb mfg on a CAM line. Really high class work. Primer finish is as good as on a Rolls. All welds were ground down, covered w/ red auto body putty then sanded smooth and sprayed. I’ve seen baby’s butts that were rougher.
Suggestions? Recommendations?
Don
Replies
Hire a good painter that has done this before. Ask to see his best work, first, before you commit to hiring him. Faux woodgrain on smooth flat surfaces has been done for centuries, and some great work has been done on steel doors. In your market, that painter is out there. Find him or her.
Zar has out a set of instructions for doing this.
http://www.ugl.com/H2Stain.html
Doing a google on 'faux finish steel door" will get you lots of hits.
And go to the library and look at some books on faux finishing.
Hello Don, I don't know much about faux finishes, my wife has done some painting the walls in the living room but not to the extent of wood grain. Earlier this week on the Knots fourm there was a thread similar to this, it was making wood look like marble. In one of the posts was this link:
http://www.dundean.com
When you get there go to the photo gallery, and then wood graining. They can do some amazing things. I think that it would take a lot of practice for the DYI'er, might want to look into getting a pro to do this.
Good Luck
We are the people our parents warned us about. J. Buffett