Reply To: Sapwood for external door

First coat of varnish over water based dye stain shows no incompatibility.i put a second coat on, but it seems to work just fine.

Apart from the economics and aesthetics of the piece, I always, always, always cut out sapwood for one reason alone – Wood-Worm.

Maybe in Wales, but that’s Not an issue on this side of the pond.

The only wood-worm we get here is in absinthe.
Oh wait. That’s wormwood.

While that would be a consideration for something like outdoor furniture here, that would not be a real issue for kiln dried lumber used in something like a finished door. If you have beetle larvae in a door the issue is improper protection, not sapwood. My varnished Douglas Fir front door has the bottom rail with sapwood in it which I installed 18 years ago and is as sound as the day I installed it. Pseudotsuga menziesii is considered moderately susceptible to insect attack in the wood database, but that’s in wet wood. The only issue is that while the rest of the door has aged to a nice reddish brown, the sapwood is still white. I’ll have to tint that someday or just cover it with a nice bronze kickplate.

And one species of wood with beetle infestation is highly prized and comes at a premium. Pecky Cypress is an infestation of Bald Cypress by beetle that eat a fungus growing in the dead wood. $20 / bdft is not unheard of. https://www.westwindhardwood.com/product/hardwoods/pecky-cypress/

That’s more than the going rate for Bubinga or real Honduran Mahogany at my local supplier.