Re-finishing a staircase

[KellyM]

Hi there,

I'm trying to re-finish a staircase in a Victorian Terrace (circa 1890 I think). I've finally managed to strip all of the paint off it and what I'd like to do is paint the balusters (spindles?) an off white colour and have the newel posts and banister finished in shellac.

The only problem is that the banister is made from western red cedar (I think or possibly oregon) and the newel posts are pine (Kauri I think) and I'd like to stain them so that they look a similar (darker) colour.

I've been reading all of the posts about the difficulties with staining pine and have picked up some good tips but wondered if anyone could makes some suggestions for getting a similar finish on both timbers. I was thinking of using Black Japan weakened with turps but am not sure how this will go on the western red cedar.

I've attached a picture for anyone interested. I've ordered the Polisher's handbook but it hasn't arrived yet so in the meantime any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kelly

[Carpenter]

Geez Kelly.... its beautiful, & after all that work I wouldn't be going anywhere near it with more paint. But, if you can positively identify the species, get some scraps/offcuts & experiment on them with different stains or possible solutions you've come across. This way you can be a little more certain of the result before you touch the stairs.

[KellyM]

Thanks Carpenter, I'll defintitely try to get some scraps to experiment on but I still wouldn't mind some more advice about which types of stains would be best to start with.

Has anyone out there got any suggestions about what would be best for getting a similar finish on both timbers?

Thanks again,

Kelly

[seriph1]

not 100% sure but I doubt it is Cedar - what did you use to strip it? If there was any caustic in the solution, then the Cedar would've turned black. Is it possible that is is Californian Redwood or perhaps Douglas Fir or even another species of Pine? I am not too familiar with staircase timbers but yours is lovely and I reckon your idea of paint and stain would look lovely. Is it because of the nightmare you're experiencing removing all the paint goobers from the balusters? - I recall seeing on This Old House (Dream House Episodes) how a finisher disguised the paint ..... bloody beautiful work! Got any more pics?

A furniture polisher would probably advise best - trying out stains on scrap bits is a fine idea

I always use Cabot's products but there are lots of good gear out there, I am sure.
have fun

[KellyM]

Someone had already had a go at stripping the banister and newel posts before I bought the house but they gave up half way through. They'd done most of the top of the banister but hadn't done the underside, between the balusters.

I started using normal old paint stripper but it was too slow so I ended up using a product called Peel-away to do the rest of it, including the balusters. It works really well but there is still a lot of elbow grease involved; lots of layers of paint and black japan so it was messy.

I did speak to a furniture restorer and he told me mostly they made banisters of western red cedar and the grain pattern looks a bit like cedar to me but someone else told me it might be oregon. It's quite a soft wood. I'm pretty sure that the newel posts are Kauri pine.

I stripped the balusters because the paint chipped really easily; lots of gloss over gloss and no one had ever sanded between coats. I want to paint them because I prefer the contrast and I think all timber would be too dark for my house - sorry to everyone who loves the all timber look - but it's also pretty hard to get the balusters 100%.

I've attached a couple of other pics, as you can see I've got my work cut out for me in general so any tips are much appreciated.

[Jill]

Hi Kelly,

I don't have any advice for you, but just wanted to encourage you in your work. I can appreciate the amount of effort involved in getting them to the stage they are at and I admire your stickability! The finished article will be worth all the work, I'm sure.

Cheers,

Jill

[durwood]

Hi Kelly,
Looks to me that the banister is oregon, whatever it is you have one timber with a distinctive dark grain and one which is fairly plain. Whatever stain you do you will always see the difference in the timbers.

Such is usually reguarded as Ok and often you see wooden objects made and there is a big difference in various bits of timber used to make it.

If you don't find the different patterns in the grain makes the job look patchy just stain them the colour you want. If you sand the clear timber bits up really well so they look good as pieces of timber when you stain and clear them they will come up great.

You might try a small area (one not so noticable like under the banister in a corner) first with the stain and experiment a bit maybe some pieces will need a couple of coats to get it closer to others which darken easily.

Last time I needed to stain a timber the local paint supplier had sample tins that you could try to see how the colour would turn out. (free service) I had off cuts but you should be able to get some offcuts of oregon etc from carpenters etc and compare them with your nice sanded timber bits.

I hope you are being careful with the paint in the house its sure to have lots of lead based paint around there being the date it is.