We have bought a house that has nice wooden doors, but holes in them have been filled ready for painting. We would prefer to varnish the wood – what can we do about the white filling in the holes?
Wood – What can we do about previously filled holes so I can varnish wood
doorsvarnishingwood
Related Solutions
You can fill the holes with Wood Fillter which is available at almost all home stores:
You fill the hole with it, and let it dry. Once dry, sand it flush with the other surface, prime and paint.
Varnish is usually a mixture of a drying oil, some resin such as pine tar, and a solvent such as turpentine. The drying oil most likely won't kill you. The most commonly used oil, linseed oil, is actually just non-food-grade flax oil by another name.
The Greeks put pine tar in their wine, and it's a tasty treat.
The solvent is a little more troublesome. The pinene in turpentine for example, has a nasty looking chemical structure. However, Solvents, by their liquid nature are pretty easily washed off, epecially when you put plenty of soap in your water.
I'd give the dishes a good washing, and use them without a second thought. I'd also try not to leave a paintbrush in the kitchen sink again.
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Best Answer
Test it first. You may be able to just stain the filler as is.
If that does not work, dig out the existing filler with whatever tool works (putty knife, old drill bit, a thick nail) and replace it with something you can stain. Not sure if paint stripper works on filler, but it's work a short.
If there's any other stains or treatments on the door though, you need to remove those with chemicals like The Evil Greebo, and sand it down nice and fine.