Any tips on how to re-varnish this badly stained door?

Question

I'm helping my mother with the front door. It's wooden, varnished with clear varnish. You know there are two types of weather in Ireland... raining and going to rain. ;-) The varnish was peeling off badly, so I used a scraper to scrape off the worst bits. the wood is now dirty in parts, where the rain used to collect, and left dirt deposits.

I had this discussion with my mother about this. She asked me to find out from the "Experts on the internet" on what the best thing to do in this case. (She never uses the internet, so I decided to turn to you.)

Even after sandpapering the wood, the stains from the dirt deposits would still be there. Would it be better to cut our losses and get wood stain, stain the door a dark mahogany colour, and then varnish? It would be ugly to just varnish the door with clear varnish, as the dirty sports would be sealed!

Just to be sure, the procedure is:

1. scrape off the peeling bits

2. sand paper off the remaining varnish (Or even use chemicals?)

3.stain the door the required shade

4. varnish

5. Sand, varnish again and again. (How many layers would be sufficient for a front door exposed to the elements?)

Answer 1

I would say you are pretty much on the right track. The nicest varnish to use is those that have UV protection. Although these days the trend is to use an oil to seal outside wood products and then apply the oil until the wood is saturated. They also have coloured oils so that you can make the door a bit darker to cover the stains.  

I have found this link to give you an idea about the product I'm talking about. You can also find out about deck sealers.