Mahogany and pine stairs

[Steve Maskery]

I'm busy removing several layers of paint from my staircase.
It's a dog-leg with a half-landing.
The bottom newel post and handrail are mahogany, but as I've started to strip the one on the half-landing, I can see that that is pine. Was it common (in 1905) to have this mixture of woods?

 

[novocaine]

yes.
mahogany unpainted for the bit everybody sees, made as fancy as possible, then cheap **** for the rest that no one cares about.

 

[AndyT]

Our late Victorian house has three timbers on the stairs.
Structural parts are all decent softwood. Ground floor and first floor have pitch pine newels and balusters with mahogany handrail.
Go up to the maid's room* at the top and not only are the balusters smaller and simpler, the handrail is pitch pine, not mahogany.
There are other subtle gradations as well - the "parlour" door is a bit wider than the dining room and has broader architrave. The bedroom doors are smaller and plainer than those on the ground floor, but the master bedroom door is a tiny bit bigger than the others.

*We don't have a maid.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Go up to the maid's room ...

Ooh, posh!

Thank you both.

 

[novocaine]

that'll be the workshop in my case.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

yes.
mahogany unpainted for the bit everybody sees, made as fancy as possible, then cheap dung for the rest that no one cares about.

My friend, a sparks, moved from a new bungalow into a 1900ish house. He came into the pub one night and someone asked how he was getting on. he said if I hear one more person say "they knew how to build in those days" I swear I'm going to lamp them. As the owner of an 1899 house I felt his pain.

 

[novocaine]

my first house (and project as it turned out) was a 1880 "miners cottage" (also known as a a 2 up 2 down terrace in a **** hole that was sinking), if they knew how to build in those days I'd have only had to do half the work (the rest being repairs and bodges done by modern day hacks).
I do wonder if in the 1800's the same folk would make claims of "well it's good you've bought that mud hut, they knew how to build back then"

 

[MikeG.]

.......*We don't have a maid.

Don't worry, I'm sure your butler will soon find you a new one. :lol:

 

[AndyT]

My friend, a sparks, moved from a new bungalow into a 1900ish house. He came into the pub one night and someone asked how he was getting on. he said if I hear one more person say "they knew how to build in those days" I swear I'm going to lamp them. As the owner of an 1899 house I felt his pain.

I've posted these pictures of our stairs before - post1190185.html#p1190185 - but they do show that Victorian chippies knew how to bodge over their own mistakes!

 

[topchippyles]

Can always use a mini sand blaster if you have a small compressor for tricky newel posts

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've ordered 5L of paint stripper for the bits I can't get at. I'm hoping that a wire brush will get where a shave hook cannot.

 

[Geoff_S]

I've ordered 5L of paint stripper for the bits I can't get at. I'm hoping that a wire brush will get where a shave hook cannot.

There's a product called Peelaway that's a paste. I've used it on intricate stuff and found it to be very good. It just pulls the paint out of the tricky bits.