Finished Faux Painted Mahogany Door Detail
In this post I’d like to explain how to turn a boring metal fire door (or any door for that matter) into a faux mahogany door you can be proud of. Your friends will be amazed at how REAL faux mahogany can look! The very first thing to remember when approaching a project like this is that the better the preparation, the better the final finish will be. I always recommend using the best products to achieve the highest standard but everyone has preferred brands. In today’s market waterborne products are making gains against traditional oil and alkyd products because of their color fastness, resistance to Ultra violet light and environmentally friendly formulas. Low V.O.C.s (Volatile Organic Compounds) seem to be the word of the day. So with that in mind I’m going to use waterborne paints, glaze and varnish/urethane.
I urge my readers to absorb all the information in this text before attempting this project as there are variations you may want to explore.
NOW, before we start throwing paint around be sure you have all the necessary tools and various sundries you’ll need to complete the project without interruption. Here’s the list:
Some of the items you’ll need…
Clean drop cloth or plastic sheeting
Roll of 1.5 inch 3-M delicate surface orange core tape or green frog tape. (Home Depot sells both of these types.)
One quart name brand primer for metal or if previously painted Ben Moore “Fresh Start” primer.
One quart Interior grade Benjamin Moore Waterborne Impervo #2014-10 Festive Orange. (This is one of many bright oranges that will work. If you choose a different brand or color, be sure its bright and has a mid level sheen, ie; satin, eggshell or semi-gloss. NOT FLAT or MATTE!)
One quart Modern Masters Tintable Glaze OR Polyvine Tropical Scumble. Other brands work but for superior results, please use a professional grade glaze. Hint: Stay away from Martha, Ralph and Behr. Just don’t do it! These are cheap glazes with too much drying agent and not enough glycol.
One small sample can 14.5 Oz. Benjamin Moore #2115-10 Appalachian Brown. (Again, this is just one of many dark browns that will work. It’s OK to use other dark browns but make sure it is acrylic and NOT exterior grade, exterior paints have silicate additives which reject weather, rain, sleet, snow and… wait for it… top coatings)
One quart Zar Satin or Semigloss waterborne urethane.
Small container Denatured Alcohol used for clean up, found in the hardware store.
One large plastic or metal paint tray with three liners, one for paint, one for glaze and one for urethane.
Mix sticks.
Three seven inch roller sleeves( one medium and two 1/8 inch low nap) and a corresponding roller frame. (Ideally, smaller rollers are needed for a project this size but either three inch or nine inch are also workable)
One sheet 120 grit sand paper, one sheet 220 grit sandpaper, one sheet 400 grit sandpaper.
One four inch square ended nylon painter’s trim brush, one inch and a half angled nylon painter’s trim brush ( C’mon, get decent brushes, the cheap ones will shed when you’re in the middle of your stroke of creative genius!) One five -in-one painters tool. (optional but very useful.)
One horsehair or hog hair long bristled flogger. (These are animal hair because they need to be a bit more course than the nylon trim brushes.) THIS TOOL IS CRITICAL to your success! These brushes can be found in most good art supply stores or on line at places like Dundean Studios in New Jersey or Pierre Finkelstein Studios in NYC. You don’t need a huge flogger but don’t get anything smaller than three inches wide as it’ll make your wood graining a snap.
Dry clean cotton rags.
Clean bucket and water.
Work lamp with clip or stand.
Sample board.
Surface Prep:
A good sanding using the appropriate grit paper will give you a smooth surface on which to apply your orange base color. Start with the heavier grit paper folded in quarters and remove any bumps and foreign anomalies in the surface of the door. Its best to sand vertically as we are going to be creating a vertical grain. Use the finer paper to create a consistent “tooth” in the surface for the paint to adhere to.
Wipe entire surface using a damp rag to remove all dust. Tack cloth can also be used.
Using the orange core masking tape or if you prefer green frog tape, tape off hinges and hardware. Be very careful to make your edges as exact as you can because when removed anything that was masked will be contrasted with your new finish.
Protect adjacent surfaces with your drop cloth and or plastic using your newly discovered orange core specialty tape or the slightly stiffer frog tape.
Prime the door using one of your low nap rollers. Avoid trying to cover the surface to a solid white. Your goal here is to close off any porous openings, and neutralize any residual grease or grime, not to cover the underlying color. We’re creating a bond coat so if you see through it, that’s OK as long as every square inch is covered. Let this coat dry, usually fifteen to thirty minutes depending on formula and atmospheric conditions.
Once your primer is dry use the 400 grit sandpaper to smooth the primer.
Wipe away any residual fine dust.
Apply your Base Color:
If it didn’t come right from the paint store, give your bright orange paint one good stir and pour off a generous amount into your tray. Use your small trim brush to remove excess paint from the lid of the can.
Since your small trim brush has been introduced to paint, now is a good time to “cut in” around the masked off trim. Its a good idea to also apply paint to the top and bottom edge of the door so the roller doesn’t bump into the floor below and the trim above. If you can open the door slightly this helps at the top but you still have the floor to contend with. I have found it helpful to place a wedge under the door to keep it from swinging while you work. You will want to apply the paint in a vertical fashion to avoid the possibility of horizontal tracks that can occur as the paint dries.
The base color is bright orange.
As soon as possible, saturate one of your thin nap rollers and apply the color as consistently as possible across the entire surface. Do your best to avoid roller tracks but don’t worry if there are a few visible lines. Do the same to your sample board that you will use later to practice on.
Before the paint has a chance to dry, use your larger trim brush to “backbrush” your application keeping a consistent vertical sweep going through the painted surface. NOTE* There is no reason to bear down on the brush as you pass through the paint. The idea here is to simply knock down the stippling effect or possible bubbles created by the roller before the paint can dry replicating the natural sweep of a long wooden plank. Gently hold the brush and let the bristles softly drag across the surface. A good quality paint will “self level” as it dries.
Use your lamp to check your work to make sure you have a consistent application. If the paint is already drying, DON’T try to fix it, you’ll make it worse. Resist the temptation to go back into it. Trust me, it’s OK.
TAKE A BREAK. Even though the paint is dry to the touch after an hour or so, don’t be fooled. Water borne paint dries first on the outside and slowly dries to a complete cure over several hours to the core. Follow all instructions on the can for drying times before proceeding.
DONT PANICK! When your partner comes home and sees this bright orange color on the door, the reaction will very possibly be one of shock and dismay. YEAH, it’s orange!… tick ,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Check your e-mail, make dinner plans or watch a movie.
Once you are certain the first coat is completely dry and you’ve had a chance to convince the skeptics, it is time to proceed.
Lightly sand the first coat using a fresh piece of 400 grit sand paper. Remove all loose dust as before.
Apply a second coat of your by now infamous orange paint using the same process as before. You can do the same thing on your sample board but it isn’t necessary as its only for practice.
Once your second coat is dry. Lightly sand to remove any raised dust or imperfections. Caution; it is very important to let the final base color cure. Overnight is best but four or five hours will do under dry atmospheric conditions.
The glaze phase:
Tap the side of the flogger rapidly as you move your hand steadily down across the wet glaze.
In one of your tray liners mix a half of your small sampler can of dark brown with a about a half a quart of glaze. As a general rule glazes are mixed at a ratio of about one part color to four parts glaze. The mistake most amateurs make is not following this rule and as a result applying too much color and not enough vehicle. This will make for a strong color mixture with little transparency and one that will dry too quickly as its the paint that carries most of the drying agent. If the application dries too quickly your project is imperiled. We don’t want that, now do we? There are obviously reasons to deviate from this rule but for this exercise , one part to four is good. Keeping some glaze and some paint separate is a good idea so you can adjust in either direction should it become necessary.
Thoroughly mix your glaze and saturate your medium nap roller for a trial run on your sample
This is what it should look like up close.
board. Apply the mixture as evenly as you can across the entire sample surface. You should be able to see through this application to the orange base color to some degree.
This is where we get to use that really cool flogger you invested in earlier. I know , flogger, right? Well, that’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to flog the surface you’ve just covered in glaze in a rapid up and down slapping motion against the surface as you move down across the glaze. Be sure to keep a clean rag handy as you’ll need to wipe out excess glaze from the bristles from time to time. Otherwise you will eventually redeposit the glaze onto the surface creating a build-up that will be difficult to control.
Once reaching the bottom of the board, start again from the top sweeping down adjacent to your first row thus creating a tight grain like texture on the surface.
You can do this several times until you get the hang of it. You can even re-apply more glaze if you feel the amount available is too light. Try applying different thicknesses of the glaze to the surface. Move your flogger in a wavy motion to imitate the slight curvature of mahogany as it develops into an organic tree. As the glaze starts to dry, try dragging your angled nylon brush across the surface in a similar gentle slapping motion to vary the intensity of the grain. Don’t forget to wipe out your brush from time to time as it will start to drag and redeposit glaze in a way that will diminish the effect you’re trying to create.
OK. The big moment has arrived! You are familiar with the appropriate amount of coverage on your surface and your paint surface is completely dry and ready for glaze.
In this example each panel is individually masked with specialty tape. The door is slowly transformed!
Using the same roller you used for your test board apply an even coat across the entire surface of the door. You can also use your smaller trim brush to make sure the glaze reaches all the way up the to edges of the hardware. Its not necessary to leave any excess around these areas as build-ups you can’t easily reach with your flogger are undesirable.
Here is where the fun begins! Use the flogger to texturize the surface as you practiced it on your board. All the way up and all the way down. Its OK to stop in the middle. You bought the good glaze right? The other stuff would start to get sticky about now and you’d be ready to scream!
If you really want to be adventurous you can measure the half way point vertically across the door leaving light pencil marks and tape off one half with your specialty tape. Now as you create your grain pattern drift slightly into the tape line. This will create the illusion when you’re finished of a crotched veneer.
What you should now be seeing is a varying intensity of glaze that if applied properly and flogged evenly imitates mahogany wood grain.
Have fun with this. Vary the intensity of the grain. Mix some darker glaze and add some sweeps into your finish with your trim brush.
Clear coating.
Now that the glaze has had a chance to dry and cure, you’ll want to protect your masterpiece. Caution! It is imperative to wait for your work to cure fully. Urethane has properties that can “wake up” uncured product and destroy your work. Let it dry at least over night if not for a day or two.
James Bond says he likes his Martinis stirred, not shaken. When handling urethane pretend you’re J.B. You do need to stir your urethane to make sure all solids that may have settled in the bottom are mixed in. Skip the olives. Shaking , of course will create bubbles and cause you to struggle with your final application.
Using your final clean tray liner for your clear coat, use your final thin nap roller to evenly apply the sealer. Here again as we did with the base color you will want to cut in with the small trim brush.
Once you have applied your first coat, use your larger trim brush to “Backbrush “the wet urethane just like you did for the paint.
Once dry, sand with 400 grit wipe down and repeat step three.
A finished detail.
Clean up.
Once the clear coat is completely dry, remove all tape from the hardware. Here is where a five-in-one painters tool is useful.
Wrap two layers of a dry clean rag over the business end of your five-in-one tool and pour a little denatured alcohol on it. Use this to remove any bleeds that may have occurred on your hardware. Be careful not to rub any part of your beautiful finish with this cleaning agent as it can dull the finish.
If you want to keep any of your roller sleeves, the five-in-one does a great job of removing excess materials.
Be sure to follow all disposal regulations for left over product. Because we used waterborne coatings it is relatively safe to wash brushes and rollers with soap and water but I don’t suggest pouring paints and urethanes down the drain. You can leave the lids off for these to dry by mixing in cat litter over time and dispose of them in the regular trash. Better still, if the opportunity exists, donate them to a local charity for use in low income housing . Orange is such a cheerful color!