Finishing exterior alder

[fergy]

My wife decided she wanted a new front door, and purchased one off Craigslist before I had a chance to look at it. Instead of the oak she thought she purchased, it appears to be knotty alder.

Having never worked with alder, I'm not sure how it stains. Anyone have any suggestions? Looking for a reddish-brown finish, but I'm more concerned with how it takes stain.

 

[JackLeg]

Buddy of mine uses alder a lot for cabinets. He uses the traditional oak stains and gets a nice job.

 

[DaveO]

It stains and finishes well. It's often used as a cheaper subsitition for other woods. It will take your stain well, the tricky part is how you're going to protect it in a 50/50 indoor outdoor environment. Finishing exterior doors is one of the most demanding jobs. It has to be tough, and repairable. Spar varnish will peel and need stripping. Polyurethane and other varishes don't have the flexibility to deal with the wood movement. Clear paint is one of the longest lasting exterior finishes out there, but at best you might get 5 years. A penetrating oil finish is one of the easiest to repair/renew but you might be doing it every 6 months.

Dave

 

[WoodWrangler]

Alder is very popular nowadays for cabinetry and it can be finished beautifully. I'd treat it like a standard maple, or oak, and agree with Dave on how to protect it.