Hi all, I am working on refinishing a banister and am looking for advice on the right approach to the project.

Starting Point

The banister currently is covered by paint on the lower portions and balusters and sealed varnish on the handrail. There are nicks, small areas of damage, and larger gouges in the handrail that will need to be filled or addressed in some way.

Section of banister pre-work

Example of gouge (post vanish removal) that was previously filled in with mismatched filler

Objective

My goal is to repaint everything that is currently brown to white and revarnish the handrails to a lighter color (if possible, open question). I'd also like to repair the minor damage and gouges in a way that minimizes being able to see these imperfections in the final state.

Recommended Process

I've been told to use a stripper to remove the paint and the varnish which I've mostly completed for one section of the banister that you can see below. In general, the process I've been told to follow is:

(1) Strip away what's there

(2) Clean any residual material with a scrubbing pad or metal brush

(3) Sand everything (120 grit)

For the portion of the banister to be painted

(4) Perform repairs where needed

(5) Prime everything that will be repainted

(6) Sand again (240 grit)

(7) Paint

For the portion of the banister to be varnished (handrail)

(4) Perform repairs where needed

(5) Sand again (240 grit)

(6) Paint

Current state of the first banister length I'm working on stripping

Open Questions (the first batch)

1. Any input on the process outlined above in terms of how to go about this project or the order of operations?
2. My biggest challenge thus far are the small details and features (as small as a quarter-inch of working space in some areas). I can deal with that for the current stripping process but when it comes to sanding, how can I efficiently sand this down while dealing with those details. All the automatic sanders I've seen are too big for the job, are there other tools I could use for this?

Thank you for any input or ideas!