1760s Handrail Refinishing Advice
Hi folks,
A friend of mine is renovating a very old and very lovely building in Lerwick built in 1760. She'd posted a pic on Facebook asking for recommendations for finishing the stairwell handrail and alarm bells starting ringing as recommendations for Danish Oil and wax started appearing. I chipped in with the obligatory Osmo Polyx (I didn't realise the age of the thing at this point) but, having found out more of the details she's wanting to do it right and take her time in doing so. I know enough to know I don't know enough... so here I am hoping to draw upon the knowledge of those far more knowledgeable than I.
Background
The handrail is believed to be original which puts it at 1760. The last finish applied was described as "thick brittle gloss paint".
A local painter tried some Nitromors but that didn't work out and ended up scraping of the worst and sanding to get back to the original wood underneath. Not a small job there me thinks!
In some of the photos you can see traces of what is likely the original finish - a dark brown colour of lord-knows-what they had back then:
The Finish
She's open to what the final finish could be (which is good!) but would like it to see the wood and avoid painting it. Given the bits of original finish still visible, I'm thinking you'd want to match / cover it to get an even finish if that's possible. So a stain(?) of some sort followed by layers of protection (PU?) with light sanding in between on top? Given that there's still bits of the original finish in the wee nooks and crannies, could that interfere with a stain adhering correctly? Are we chasing the end of a rainbow to get a good result? As you can see this is where my knowledge stops!
Any wise words would be very much appreciated. I see this as trying to garner enough knowledge to use to try and find a local tradesman to do the actual work and to know we've found someone who knows what they're doing. This isn't the easiest thing to do up here given the remoteness of being plonked in the middle of the North Sea and I'd be gutted to do it and get it wrong!
Hi folks,
A friend of mine is renovating a very old and very lovely building in Lerwick built in 1760. She'd posted a pic on Facebook asking for recommendations for finishing the stairwell handrail and alarm bells starting ringing as recommendations for Danish Oil and wax started appearing. I chipped in with the obligatory Osmo Polyx (I didn't realise the age of the thing at this point) but, having found out more of the details she's wanting to do it right and take her time in doing so. I know enough to know I don't know enough... so here I am hoping to draw upon the knowledge of those far more knowledgeable than I.
Background
The handrail is believed to be original which puts it at 1760. The last finish applied was described as "thick brittle gloss paint".
A local painter tried some Nitromors but that didn't work out and ended up scraping of the worst and sanding to get back to the original wood underneath. Not a small job there me thinks!
In some of the photos you can see traces of what is likely the original finish - a dark brown colour of lord-knows-what they had back then:
The Finish
She's open to what the final finish could be (which is good!) but would like it to see the wood and avoid painting it. Given the bits of original finish still visible, I'm thinking you'd want to match / cover it to get an even finish if that's possible. So a stain(?) of some sort followed by layers of protection (PU?) with light sanding in between on top? Given that there's still bits of the original finish in the wee nooks and crannies, could that interfere with a stain adhering correctly? Are we chasing the end of a rainbow to get a good result? As you can see this is where my knowledge stops!
Any wise words would be very much appreciated. I see this as trying to garner enough knowledge to use to try and find a local tradesman to do the actual work and to know we've found someone who knows what they're doing. This isn't the easiest thing to do up here given the remoteness of being plonked in the middle of the North Sea and I'd be gutted to do it and get it wrong!
