Wood is an integral material used in house during finishing works in making of doors, cabinets, consoles, door frames, architraves, jamb frames etc. Wood is a natural material and is available in unfinished form and it requires finishing. Finishing of wood is done by a procedure which is called “Polish”. It is the best method to give fine and finished look to the wood and apart from that it also helps in sealing the wood and protecting it from moisture changes that can result in expansion and contraction of wood.
Wooden polish was more commonly used for furniture finishes however in last decade or so, it has also become one of the most integral finishing item of a house. People now invest heavily in wood works during construction of house, semi solid or solid doors are made using expensive woods such as Mohaagni, Deodar(diyar) or Ashwood. Hence this type of wood work requires fine polish finish which is another cost apart from paint works. For this purpose separate professional teams are hired who are expert in polish works only.
Door polish is a job that has different grades and qualities in final finish aspect, and different finish qualities have different costs both on labor and material. Best finished polish requires more effort hence more labor and it requires more material to get desired finish. If you are going through a tight budget during finishing works of your house, it is recommended that basic polish colour should be applied on doors which can be done by painter in minimum possible effort and material. Minor scrubbing, filling of wood and 1 coat of enamel on door followed by polish color mixed in varnish and laag dana, along with a single coat of lacquer should be enough to give the desired look. However this will be just an ordinary finish of door and will not look much attractive.
Doors with basic polish colour only
Proper polishing as mentioned earlier requires experienced polish professionals and expensive material. Before discussing polish technicalities let us see which materials are required for polishing:
- Sand paper 80# & 150#
- kerosene oil
- Varnish
- Black ink for polish (کالی سیاہی)
- Plaster of paris filling
- Laag dana (لاگ دانا )
- Black color powder (کالا سیانہ)
- Brown color powder
- Thinner
- Cambric (ململ)
- White spirit
- NORTON sandpaper 240#
- Sealer
- Lacquer
All above materials are easily available in market from paint shops in different brands. Branded thinner, sealer and lacquer should be used for best finish however in case of budget constraints, open thinner, sealer and lacquer are also available in market at lower prices. E.g branded thinner is available at the rate of 325-350 Rs/litre whereas open thinner can be bought at 170-250 Rs/litre.
Step 1 Grinding
The process starts from sand paper(ریگ مار) which is used to grind the element that is to be polished. Grinding is done manually by hand vigorously to smoothen the surface and remove major bulks and unwanted particles. Initial grinding is done using 80# sandpaper and later the surface is smoothened using 150# sandpaper. Before grinding make sure all nails that were used in making of door by the carpenter are properly inserted into the wood and nail heads are not visible.
Step 2
Once smooth surface is achieved as a result of grinding, next step is to apply laag dana (لاگ دانا). Laag dana is available easily in market from any shop dealing in paint materials in form of brown grains. It is an expensive polish material(Rs 1200-1700/kg) hence special care should be taken on site to avoid its theft. Do not buy in bulk as it is required in small quantity. To apply laag dana on surface that is to be polished, it is transformed into liquid by mixing the grains in spirit. Suppose polish is being done in 10 marla or 1 kanal house that has in average 16-17 doors, required laag dana will be .5 kg which will be mixed in 3 litres of spirit. 1 coat of laag dana and spirit mixture is more than enough.
Step 3
After application of laag dana and spirit mixture, next comes the plaster of paris filling, mixture of plaster of paris should be made in such a way that the color of paste matches with the color of wood to maximum extent. Fill the joints, nail heads and all other required bulks and depressions if any carefully as it will have a great impact on achievement of smooth surface and fine finish.
Step 4
Once filling is complete, sandpaper #150 is used again to smoothen the filled surface.
Step 5
At this stage color of final finish must be decided. If doors or wooden structure is to be finished in natural color of the wood, sealer is applied directly. Sealer is used to close all natural pores in wood. It is another expensive material that is used during polishing. Final finish of product depends upon the number of sealer coats that are applied. For best finish a door requires around 15-16 coats of sealer and each coat is applied using spray gun machine. Specially made NORTON wallpaper 240# is used after every 3-4 spray coats of sealer. After applying sealer in desired number of coats, once again a potein check is carried out prior to final finish followed by another grinding session using NORTON 240# sandpaper.
Incase whatever product is being polished is to be finished in some color, color is made using a mixture of kerosine oil, varnish and desired color powder. Mandatory items required for making of color are kala siana (کالا سیانہ), black polish ink (کالی سیاہی) and brown color powder. These colors are easily available from any paint shop in small packets. This color is made in one go to avoid any color variations or differences in various coats and should be made at least 24 hours before application. If we take same amount of doors as discussed above (16-17 doors) required kala siana will be around 24 packets which will be mixed in 12 packets of black polish ink along with the 12 packets of brown color powder. Another 12 packets of black polish ink will be kept spare and used as per requirement of desired color. This mixture will be mixed in 10 litres of kerosene oil and 1 gallon of varnish (3.5 litres), which will result in dark brown color as shown in picture below:
Color is applied using Cambric (ململ) cloth, cloth is dipped in liquid color and applied on door and before it dries, separate clean cambric cloth is applied on wet color to give it a fine look. After giving the door its desired color, sealer is applied in same manner as explained above followed by final potein check and grinding by NORTON sandpaper 240#.
Final Step 6
Doors can be finished either in matt (non shiny) or gloss (shiny) looks and decision is to be made at this stage. Lacquer is another liquid material easily available from paint shops, both matt and gloss finish has separate lacquers. It is applied as final coating using same method as that of sealer i-e spray gun. For matt finish 2 coats of lacquer are required whereas for gloss finish 4 coats of lacquer are required. Once complete, doors should be properly packed by polythene packing sheets to keep it safe from dirt.
