Help getting this finish off

[dablack]

Ok guys.  My buddy's wife broke the glass out of there front door.  Without letting me know they bought a replacement front door (I could have fixed the old one).  Sure enough they still had the old door so I got it, replaced the broken leaded glass bits, soldered up the lead and am ready to put it back in.  The exterior finish on the door was old (door was new in the 90s), so I broke out the Random Orbit DA sander and took it down to what I thought was fresh wood.  There was some extra trim on the door that I didn't want to finish so that came off as well.  They also had one of those gold kick plates at the bottom of the door.  That kick plate was delaminating its clear coat so I just took it off.  So, I go to put a tung oil finish on it and here is where it gets bad.  I put on about three coats.  It looks great but you can totally see the shadow of where the old trim was and where the kick panel was.  What would be the best way to take down that tung oil finish and make sure I get all the old finish off.  I want to make sure I'm down to fresh wood so the tung oil will turn out even. 

thanks
Austin

[dablack]

Ok, I have googled a little and found that it would be very hard to get the tung oil finish off of the door.  I think I will have to buy some trim to go over where the old trim went and then maybe buy one of those dumb kick plates.  UG!

[metalspinner]

Do you think the discoloration is from UV exposure?  Are the previously covered portions of the door lighter or darker than the exposed portions?

You may need to tint your finish to blend in the lighter areas.  Waiting it out and letting the sun tint the wood down is a long term option, too.

[dablack]

Yes, it is from UV.  My friends front door has a souther exposure, but with it on my house it will be sheltered (set back) and have northern exposure.  So, no way the sun will even this door out.  The tung oil I'm using (danish I think) has some tint in it.  It is already has dark as I want to go.  The door has a really nice grain to it and I would hate to make to any darker.  Plus, since my door is already set back, I want it as light as possible so it won't look like a black hole.

With that being said, I'm going to look it over again tonight or tomorrow and see if a little darker would hurt anything.  I think the door is juniper.