Refinishing stair railing

9 years ago

When attempting to clean 35 years of grime build up off my stair railing (using soapy water and a rag), I managed to remove most of the grime, but also most of the finish and a fair bit of the stain too. No big loss as I never loved it.

I'd like to refinish the railing and the post with a black or almost black stain (I'm open to paint if stain will be a giant PITA, but would prefer stain. I'll paint spindles white. I'm pretty sure it's all pine, if that matters.

So, what is the best way to go about refinishing the post and rail? Can I sand lightly and use a gel stain? Or do I need to sand down to bare wood? The post still has far more stain than the railing--will a dark stain mask that or do I need to get them looking the same to start?

Also, please note I embrace the "done is better than perfect" philosophy. I'm ok with cutting some corners in the interest of the project actually getting done, so I'm good with "good enough" (ie, the approach that doesn't require me to spend 72 hours sanding).

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Comments (3)

User
9 years ago
It would be unusual for the wood of the rail and post to be pine, as pine is a very soft wood unsuited for those uses. Maple is more traditional. Also maple for the spindles.

If you do not want sanding time, primer and paint are the best options. Gel stain, IMHO, is a substandard compromise between stain and paint, since it is more paint than stain and does not have primer on which to stick.

I'd use a gloss acrylic enamel(water based for convenience) over BIN (Zinsser product) shellac based primer.
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elohbee
Original Author
9 years ago
Maple would make sense, I just knew it wasn't oak.

I don't mind sanding some, just didn't want to be sanding endlessly. Would a traditional stain work if I sanded off all the old poly but not the old stain?

I should probably just start sanding a bit and see how it goes.

Thanks for the paint advice if I end up going that route!!
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User
9 years ago
When stain is applied correctly, it is absorbed into the grain of the wood. Woods with more dense grain(like maple) absorb less stain, so sanding is generally less time consuming. Wood can be stained darker, but not lighter.

Stain will not be absorbed through any finish(save what is called a wash coat of shellac which is used to minimize blotching). Blotching occurs when a section of the wood absorbs more stain than surrounding areas because of the grain density. Softer woods(pine/etc) and open grain woods(oak/ash/etc) tend to blotch more than more dense grained wood.

Sanding finish can be quite time consuming and expensive, especially when the old finish gums up the sand paper. Which happens more times than not as a rule. Scratch coat sanding is an exception, since the finish is not removed, but just roughed up so primer can adhere better.
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