Banister & newel posts preparation and finish

[I_like_wood]

Hi all

I'm undertaking one of my first proper house restoration projects and would really appreciate some advice on the final stages of restoring the banister and newel posts in my house which was built c1932.

I have stripped off most of the paint although still a few awkward corners to go and done some sanding and I am starting to think about finishing.

I've included some pictures below to show the state the wood is in at the moment. The small blank marks are the actual grain of the wood where the old varnish and black paint that were previously applied have seeped through I believe but you can also feel these when you run your hand over the banister even though I have sanded working down through sandpaper grades. The first image shows some patches where I may have used more pressure on the sander and they are much smoother.

-I am planning to stain the banister fairly dark so I would like to understand whether I can do that now and achieve a consistent finish or do I need to get the whole banister the same as the smooth patches?

-Based on what I have seen on other forums I was then intending to finish with a few coats of Liberon finishing oil to get a semi gloss finish. Other people seem to mention oils, wax or varnish finishes but generally not staining and oiling as I am intending to do, would I be doing something wrong if I go down this route?

-Does applying the oil also improve the feel of the wood as I want it to feel smooth and friction less (hence why I am not going down the varnish route as they always feel sticky to me)?

Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

[ED65]

The first image shows some patches where I may have used more pressure on the sander and they are much smoother.

It's very tempting to do this but try hard not to bear down on the sander. The advice is generally to use fingertip pressure only.

If the work is going too slowly it's usually a sign that you're using too fine a grit and you should go back a step, only when you've removed enough switch to the finer grit again. For much material removal you might want to be using 80 to begin with and sometimes coarser than that.

-I am planning to stain the banister fairly dark so I would like to understand whether I can do that now and achieve a consistent finish or do I need to get the whole banister the same as the smooth patches?

It's hard to tell whether you'll get a consistent colour when you stain. You can preview how wood will absorb a finish to some degree by wetting it with white spirit and looking for pale areas, but I'm not sure in this case if you'll get the full picture. The type of stain makes a big difference.

You may have to resort to using a coloured topcoat, which are very common on banisters. And because of the woolly naming practices in the finish world it's possible you were already going to use one of those anyway! Many things called stain aren't stains any longer.

-Does applying the oil also improve the feel of the wood as I want it to feel smooth and friction less (hence why I am not going down the varnish route as they always feel sticky to me)?

Yes oiling done right does make the wood feel very smooth, but it takes significant rubbing to get the best surface possible. After proper surface preparation it's the rubbing that is the secret to a good oil finish which is why traditionally it was a long, slow, process spread over weeks.

Any decent varnish should not feel sticky. They should dry hard and feel dry (like a car's paintwork) once fully cured, and even after a rudimentary drying period of a few days should not be tacky any longer although cold weather does slow the curing of all finishes. Varnishes can be bought in any finish from matt to gloss, or gloss varnish can be rubbed down afterwards to any desired lesser sheen.

 

[custard]

The first image shows some patches where I may have used more pressure on the sander and they are much smoother.

I'm not convinced that you did use more sander pressure, the timber is definitely Oak and I suspect those smooth patches are simply medullary rays. Quarter sawn Oak always has visible medullary rays, sometimes it's thin spidery threads, but occasionally it's large splodgy patches like that. You will only achieve the same smoothness on the rest of the surface as you will on the medullary rays if you grain fill, and on a bannister grain filling is a giant faff so personally I wouldn't bother!

I hear what you say about that "tackiness" with varnish, you can minimise it with immaculate technique and a load of burnishing, but for practical purposes oil will generally feel smoother.

If you're going to stain then use a water based aniline dye like these,

http://www.jpennyltd.co.uk/shopping/pgm ... php?id=263

Don't go the spirit based stain route unless you're pretty experienced and can maintain a wet edge. Even though spirit based stain claims to be more light fast in my long experience of using them both there's actually very little difference, kept out of direct sunlight they're both fine but with water based it's much easier to achieve a decent result. Oil based finishes will be fine over water based stain. If you want a higher gloss you could try a final coat of a very hard wax, i.e. one made with a high percentage of carnauba or shellac wax. They're fairly difficult to source commercially but they're easy enough to mix up yourself.

 

[timber]

The first image shows some patches where I may have used more pressure on the sander and they are much smoother.

Rustins Danish Oil looks great on oak, simply the best looks and lasts well, I found Rustins is the best- not too much varnish in it.
I'm not convinced that you did use more sander pressure, the timber is definitely Oak and I suspect those smooth patches are simply medullary rays. Quarter sawn Oak always has visible medullary rays, sometimes it's thin spidery threads, but occasionally it's large splodgy patches like that. You will only achieve the same smoothness on the rest of the surface as you will on the medullary rays if you grain fill, and on a bannister grain filling is a giant faff so personally I wouldn't bother!

I hear what you say about that "tackiness" with varnish, you can minimise it with immaculate technique and a load of burnishing, but for practical purposes oil will generally feel smoother.

If you're going to stain then use a water based aniline dye like these,

http://www.jpennyltd.co.uk/shopping/pgm ... php?id=263

Don't go the spirit based stain route unless you're pretty experienced and can maintain a wet edge. Even though spirit based stain claims to be more light fast in my long experience of using them both there's actually very little difference, kept out of direct sunlight they're both fine but with water based it's much easier to achieve a decent result. Oil based finishes will be fine over water based stain. If you want a higher gloss you could try a final coat of a very hard wax, i.e. one made with a high percentage of carnauba or shellac wax. They're fairly difficult to source commercially but they're easy enough to mix up yourself.

 

[Jacob]

I'd paint it all. The wood doesn't look particularly attractive and any transparent finish is going to be uneven. If you want a dark bannister rail paint it black gloss.
Avoid shiny treads - they can be lethal!

 

[deema]

Medular rays that you see in quarter sawn timber which I believe is also known as Tiger strip is for many very attractive. The existing dark stains may well be almost removed by using oxalic acid which is both very easy to use and easy to buy. This would be my prefered route rather than trying to remove them by sanding.

I would use Tung oil which will both darken the oak as well as enabling you to achieve a luster that your happy with. This can vary from almost Matt to almost a gloss finish depending on how many coats and how much buffing you do. The medular rays will take the oil colour differently and you will see the Tiger stripe. Tung oil is really easy to use, wipe it on, leave it 5 mins and wipe off the excess. Leave to cure over night and repeat. Inbetween coats sand with say 400grit very lightly. Some use 0000 wire wool, but I prefer to keep anything steel away from oak which turns black if any steel / iron is left in direct contact for any time.

Assuming you don’t have very deep scratch patterns from the previous sanding, simply starting at say 120 grit and working up to say 400 will give you a very smooth if not silky finish to the oak. I would hand sand it rather than machine sand which will reduce the opportunity for ‘flat’ spotting the curved upper edge of the hand rail that you will feel every time that you use it.