door maintenance - what finish and how to clean

1. Door sill
2. Most sills are merbau [red colour]
I leave mine natural ['cause that suits] & every 12 months or so [ maybe 5 years or so ] use a paint scraper to remove the grime & give it a swish of sealer oil.
A side door in a previous home was painted & was a pain to keep looking good but I suppose it depends on the overall look.
If it's merbau it doesn't take a stain really well & a painted surface doesn't seem to last with heavy traffic & is a bigger job to bring back.

Thanks.
When you say sealer oil, do you mean a Danish Oil (with a poly additive) type?

I don't know if sealer oil was the correct terminology - I use a mixture of terebin-linseed oil-kero, only because it was left over from a job in another lifetime. There may be better ready made products.
My main aim was to get away from a 'surface' coating that wears away after a period of time in high traffic areas, but there may be products on the market that others have used that stand up to the wear.

Thanks Peter, much appreciated.

I was taught that sills go under windows and thresholds under doors.

Mick

I think you maybe right Mick in Qld applications.
'Sills' were adopted in Vic I think around 1937 by Grooms who didn't want to carry their wives over the 'threshold'
-" sorry dear, I can't do that we've got sills"

It's probably still tabled in the Qld parliament for discussion.