" The door that we're working here, the front door of the house is the original door from the early 1800's. And when the restoration started, the central panels had been take out and pieces of plexiglass have been put in. And there were holes on the door and there were scars from padlocks and hasps and the like. So it's been restored------"

" No. you're taking it back to what possibly could've been the original finish in the early 1800's, a full mahogany. "

" That's correct. That was a, a pretty popular practice back then."

" Yes."

" Mahogany was too hard to, to make doors out of because it was too heavy and too expensive------"

" It was very expensive as a [unk] of wood."

" Exactly."

" What is the theory here? You painted the, the door itself a yello9w color, an ivory."

" Exactly. The door gets base coated with the, an oil-base finish."

" And what, wouldn't you start off with a dark brown? And why yellow?"

" Well, you have to have a, a lot of contrast in, in this, on this wood and the light yellow gives it a great contrast between light and dark. Almost gives you like 3 different values which is what you're looking for------"

" I see."

" because most wood has those values."

" Yes. And then the brown material that you're just brushing on now, and don't let me interrupt you------"

" Sure, sure."

" keep on doing it. So is it an oil-based stain?"

" Yes it is an oil-based stain. But it's a, it's not a penetrating stain like a lot of stains are but it's more, it's more of a, a thicker based stain that we're, that we use. It seems to work very well."

" And so you put it on and then you kinda take more of it off?"

" Right. You have to wait for it to almost what we call snap to where it's almost setup enough to where you dry brush it and it gives it a little bit of movement."

" How do you do that part there?"

" Well Martha is working on one of those panels right down here and she can show you exactly what she's doing------"

" Yes. In, in, in nature------"

" in fact I did get involved."

" In nature, what you call the hearts that is arch shaped in the grain------"

" Yes."

" occurs at the juncture between the tree trunk and, and a big branch or a limb coming out."

" Right."

" And so you're replicating that."

" Right."

" What are you doing right now?"

" I'm flogging the glaze to give it the pour texture."

" To give it the what texture?"

" The texture of the pores."

" Oh, oh, oh the grains [unk] -----"

" Yes."

" of the [unk] that pores in the wood."

" And you do that just by flapping the flat side of the brush against it as you move it simultaneously."

" So you come in after he's done that step, you come in and do that?"

" Well, realistically, you do, one person does the whole door by herself or himself. You do your panels first and then you come in and do the styles and rails."

" Did you guys work as a team?"

" but we work together and so to keep our style the same, this is how we've chosen to do it."

" Okay. Well now, once you've flogged it and gotten all the grain into it, how do you go about creating this heart which is the shape here?"

" Okay. You do that with the brush. Would you like to try the flogging first?"

" Sure."

" Before I. Okay. And------"

" It's just a regular china bristle brush, right?"

" regular china bristle brush."

" You go from the top down or from------"

" I go from the bottom up and, and hold it out like that."

" Yes, okay."

" Yes. It's hard to get low enough on the floor here. And, and ,move it up."

" Yes that's all it takes."

" That's good. Yes. Yes."

" You're actually lifting off a little bit of the, a little bit of the glaze----"

" Right."

" to create that huh?"

" Right and it gives it texture."

" That's not so bad."

" No. That's not hard. That's easy."

" Then what about the, the, the heart."

" And then you cut the heart with the same brush. You start at the bottom and you make a little arch and it's drying because the wind blowing. And then you come."

" you start to create a rhythm."

" Right. And it's really dry because of the wind."

" Yes."

" But you just keep going upward, not out. You need to vary your strokes a little bit so that, so that every panel isn't the same."

" Now once you've done the whole door and it's dried, don't you have to do another application to give it that rich kind of burgundy look that mahogany would have?"

" That's correct Bob and were getting ready to do the door that we have already completed grained and were getting ready to do an overglaze. You'd like to go watch us do that?"

" Sure. Oh right now. Is this another type of stain that you use or what is it?"

" It's pretty much the same kind of stain but it's very thin and we add some, some colorant to it to give it a little more of a burgundy tint."

" Is that the colorant?"

" Yes it is. It's a, just a universal [unk] tint that comes in various shades, its own version and, and, oxides."

" And you're using a red."

" We use a red and add to a, a red mahogany stain that are ready."

" Okay. And then, is there any trick to applying it?"

" Well, it's not a trick but the one, one of the things that you have to be careful about is that you don't have streaks. So when, as soon as you get it put on, and it looks like you're almost coloring up your------"

" You're covering up all that [unk] grainy."

" Well, it really won't once I'm done with it. We do it, we do with a panel at a time and as soon as you get a panel done, then you have a nice handy very soft tissue right here at your side and then you just kinda blot it off and as you're blotting it off, then it, it reveals the graining that you had just done. And then you have what we call dry brush and it's just really a, a very cheap, inexpensive china bristle brush and then you just kinda give it some dry brushings to, to eliminate the streaking that you've, you've caused."

" Okay. So far, you've only applied stain though. Do you have to come over this at a final time and seal it with a varnish or [unk]"

" Oh yes. Exactly. We'll wait a couple of days until it's good and dry and then on the inside we use a, a nice varnish. Generally a satin finish. But on the outside, due to the weather and the elements, we have to use a spar varnish. "