Doors and Crockpots
The respite from the door refinishing doesn’t last long as this week it’s back to scraping doors and boiling hardware. I remove most of the hardware from the main door and get that going in the crockpot for some simmering overnight. The set-up here is the same as the other bedroom with a rim lock, wooden doorknob, and a brass latch for the closet door. I am missing original hinges on the main door so I’ll need to find some replacements.
Rim lock and a hook.
Wooden doorknob.
Closet hinges.
After simmering overnight, I brush off the paint using a brass brush. There’s still some blotches of paint on the hinge, but for now I put some oil on the metal to prevent rusting and put the hardware away for another pass of stripping later.
Brushing off the paint.
Most of the paint is off, but if you look closely at the hinges, those will need another pass to remove paint.
On to the closet door, I already have done a pass with the SpeedHeater so now it’s time to go with a chemical stripper. I’ve given up on CitriStrip and switched over to a Jasco stripper. I apply this and then cover in plastic wrap to let the stripper sit without drying out. The Jasco stripper is a lot stronger so I don’t let it sit too long before the paint starts bubbling off.
After a pass with the SpeedHeater.
Getting ready to apply the plaster wrap over chemical stripper.
After the stripper has set for a bit, removing the plastic to start scraping off the bubbling paint.
In the room, most of the work is continuing stripping the paint from the ceiling and walls, but we also start hitting the woodwork with using the SpeedHeater on some of the window molding.
Stripping woodwork.
The last bit of work is cutting a piece of wood to replace a cut stud from the old HVAC. I’m not sure if missing this stud is bad for the house since things are already not plumb and somewhat crooked, but at the very least it’s nice to have a stud to attach the lath to for my plaster repairs. For the other room I used a 2x4 for this repair, but due to modern wood being smaller than the past, the 2x4 didn’t match up to the size of the old stud. While at Lowes I noticed a 6x6 fence post that could fit pretty well if I cut it. The problem is that I have to cross-cut to make an old school 2x4. Since I’m not a lumber mill and don’t have a table saw, I make the cross cut using a hand saw. It doesn’t come out exactly straight, but good enough. I then work to get the repair into the gap and it takes some planing and rasping of the wood to get a tight fit. I’ll leave that for now and then use some braces to secure the wood more permanently.
Fitting in a piece of wood to repair a missing stud.
