Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Repairing scratches in hollow doors.

Hi all!
I can't find any info on how to repair scratches in the kind of doors that are hanging in my house. I have what I would think is standard doors th roughout. They are hollow and I think are honey oak stain. There looks like a coating over the stain. They are damaged really easy, sometimes it is a scratch in the clear coat and others it is right down into the wood. What is the construction of these doors? Is it plywood - laminate - stain - varnish? How do I repair the various scratches and chips? They are real glossy.

P.S. This site is amazingly helpful to people who want to do their own work!

These hollow core doors are constructed of luan plywood over a honeycomb of wood and pasteboard. This is then stained and finished or painted.

Scratches down into the wood itself or deeply into the finish will require stripping and stain and finish to repair. You might be able to get some degree of satifaction from applying a fresh coat of finish over the doors. This might well hide the scratches in the finish, but would do little for the damage to the wood itself or the stained wood.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info ... What do I use to finish the door? I don't know what to buy, what is the glossy coating over the stain?

There is every likelihood that the finish is polyurethane. Clean the surface with some spic and span to remove any grease, grit, and grime. Knock down the sheen with a green scotchbrite pad, then apply the new finish.

Hope this helps.