The old fashioned lock tells me they are quite old...but not if they are original. Please test for lead in the layers of paint. Removing lead paint is extremely dangerous. Leaving lead paint alone is perfectly fine.

The age of the home SCREAMS OUT lead contamination. If the doors ARE original AND they have lead based paint, you are in for a very expensive experiment (you need a professional to strip the lead paint off for you).

I have been covering most of the old paint in the house because I don't want to deal with the lead issue, however, this particular door had some chips that when picked at a little appeared to be only one coat of paint on top of a primer. I can't imagine that the one coat of white paint has been there is from the lead era. So either the previous owner stripped it of lead, or it was never anything but stained or it's not an old door! At any rate, I did think that chemical stripping was the safest way to remove it if it was lead.... No? It's a citrus based " no harsh fumes" stripper that actually works pretty good.

If this has lead in it...anything that causes the paint to reliquify is going to cause problems. Heat guns are very bad for lead fumes...solvents (citric acid = solvent from a plant = still a solvent) will disolve the product and then lift them into the air as they evaporate = fumes.

I would still check for lead. No need to get sick if a simple test is avaible. The lock, wood colour and style of door indicate it could be from the "lead era". The call is yours.

Back in the day, I stripped paint off the doors in my moms home that was built in 1914. Had about 6 layers of paint on it. It was a labor of love. That was before it was known how bad the lead was, or before citrus stripper and before I knew about special gloves...

However, the one thing I did do, was take the door off the hinges and work on it outside, not in the house.

I think the door looks old too, but no way to tell if it is original. If you like it, it's worth stripping. Honestly, with what you did, it's not like you can just slap a coat of paint on it now.

I decided that after it took 3 days (with my crazy schedule) to get half the door done that would find a suitable "stopping point" and call it quits. I've never made such a mess! I wasn't as impressed with the wood as I thought I might be so I primed and painted and the door looks fine.... Lesson learned!