That's supposed to look like wood?

Obviously the picture doesn't show the wood grain. The crackleing is what has happened to the paint finish. That's why I'm asking for suggestions.

Hey SJT!

Depending how fussy you are about the final result will kinda determine how to proceed.
For instance....is it a homes' main entrance door, or just a maintenance-shed kinda thing?

Either way, ALL of that failed paint has to come off!

Faron

I wonder whether the graining is embossed in the metal or applied on surface at the factory.

And how do you remove paint from a steel door? Is it the same as from a wood door, with a heat gun and scraper?

This happened when painted while air or surface temperatures are too cold. You need to first remove all the paint from surface by sanding or scraping & paint it again. Avoid painting in too cold.

That looks like a disaster.
Strip it, but be careful with a scraper. Try Peel-Away.

Must be re-primed before re-paint.

Where is the 'wood grain' part? All I see is cracking paint.

I think you'll be able to get an idea of the wood graining from this picture. This is our front entry door, so we'd really like it to be more presentable. So you say I need to totally strip the door, then prime and paint. Sounds simple, but since I've never stripped anything I'm sure it's not. What pitfalls do I need to look out for when stripping this door?

If that's actually textured steel, you can use an aircraft stripper to get to bare metal and keep the grain. If that's some vinyl overlay with texture in it, I have no idea other than try to peel it off and get to bare metal. I don't believe there is a way to firm up a vinyl overlay when it's this bad and get paint to hold.
Casey