birch faced ply staircase

[noodle]

Hi all,

We're having a birch faced ply staircase built with solid balustrades but are unsure how to finish the ply? Some form of oil or matt varnish finish but which one which will work well with ply without swelling it at all/ changing the colour and give a matt finnish but give good protection for a staircase!?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

 

[Beau]

Used a fair bit of birch ply in our place. I liked a polyurethane varnish if I wanted to bring out the end grain. The acrylic varnish was more natural on the face but looked a bit pale and lacking contrast on the edge. Didnt have any problem with swelling from either finnish. Have had acrylic varnish cause buckling on face veneer before but think it was partly a fault with the sheet and too many coats applied in too short space of time. Would not go down the oil rout for stairs unless you want a fair bit of maintenance. Used Liberon finishing oil on our stairs and there are serious ware marks now. The floor oils maybe better but I was too tight to buy another product haha.

 

[noodle]

thanks for reply, will have a look into them a bit more. Any real difference with brands?

 

[Beau]

On acrylic there were few choices I only used Ronseal just because I have used it before without issues. Don't think there were many options for polyurethane varnish but again used Ronseal. Remembered today that I oiled some of the Birch ply in our bedroom as it had a walnut edging and I did not want the wasted under a varnish. Again no problems but it's had an easy life. It was some years back but I think it required a lot of oil to quench the plys thirst.

Edit. I have just reread you opening post and realised it's only for the balustrades not the treads so oil would be fine. Sorry for the duff advice before