Mahogany effect varnish or lacquer.

[pieman]

I am now stripping many coats of paint from the staircase, one of the lower layers seems to have a wood effect lacquer dark in colour.
Has anyone any idea what this was called or from what era. It's a real swine to get off :?

 

[Penners]

How old is the house? the Victorians were quite keen on creating dark woodgrain effects, to make softwood fittings like doors, stairs, etc, look more like dark hardwood.

Strippers of Sudbury have a variety of stripping products for different types of surface coating. There's a handy guide on their website, or if you can't find anything there you can always phone them.

This is not an ad - I'm nothing to do with the company.