Restoring mahogany banister

[MetManMark2]

Morning all

Last year I stripped our staircase, cleaned it up and put down a lovely runner. The job I need to do now is to refurbish the banister. It is beautiful but in need of some TLC. There are areas that are quite black and sticky (hand oil?) and areas that are lighter in colour with some damage (dents etc). Most of it looks in pretty good condition and looks to be oiled in some way - the bit that is lighter in colour I think might have been varnished.

Having done a bit of a web search I tried using a little olive oil on the dark parts to see whether this would come off. It did clean it up somewhat but I didn't do too much as my wife was grumpy with as she said that I would wake our kids. I will take some photos in due course and post them here.

My questions are: how do I go about cleaning and renovating this? I am tempted to use olive oil to clean it up and then to use beeswax. I don't want to do anything too harsh and strip the natural colour of the wood

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance
Mark

 

[CliffordPope]

I was advised years ago by an antique furniture dealer that professionals used a 50/50 mixture of meths and linseed oil, shaken into a suspension and applied with very fine wire wool or a coarse rag. I've used it since and it works well at dissolving that horrible black deposit that accumulates in grooves and round joints, and the oil lubricates and mitigates the abrasive effect of the wool while putting oil back in its place.
You can use a toothbrush for stubborn or inaccessible bits.

It's an all-in-one option that miraculously removes bad patina at the same time as laying down new shiny good patina.

 

[Cubist]

Cliffords advice is good and I would merely add that you can use a small dab of neat meths on wire wool to clean the stubborn bits.

 

[RBailey]

For cleaning I use meths and wire wool, first 0 and then 0000.
Then I have had real success with going over it with Howards "restore-a-finish" which seems to be a mix of solvent and "shelac" (probably wrong term) and this seems to clean, partly dissolve the finish, homogenize the surface and then dry smooth.
For ongoing treatment I then use Howards "feed-n-wax" which has a high orange oil content.

*not sponsored by Howards

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[MetManMark2]

Thanks all. I will get some meths and linseed oil and give it a go. Appreciate your help

 

[LadyArowana]

It sounds very much like the same situation I found when our house came back to us after being rented out. I carefully scraped off the vile sticky gunk with a blade because when I tested various solvents ( started with mild stuff like dish soap, progressed to stronger chemicals ) it was obvious I would generate huge amounts of fumes and still not shift it. When the worst was gone an old scouring pad with some fairy liquid shifted the last vestiges.

After it dried a nice beeswax polish and burnished with a soft cloth wrapped around my secret weapon of an old wooden spoon.

 

[Toby Newell]

Again, no, no and no. See my other recent post on Jacobean panels.

Linseed oil will go dticky, does zero.

Meths will dissolve shellac and make old shellac fry up and ruin it.

Liberon furniture reviver or make your own (see my other post mentioned above)

If in doubt just use neat turps, it's the least aggressive.

Stripping with wire wool and DCM stripper is gentle and will not affect the colour.

Most handrails are shellacked, cleaning with meths = worst possible thing you could do ever.

 

[Toby Newell]

It sounds very much like the same situation I found when our house came back to us after being rented out. I carefully scraped off the vile sticky gunk with a blade because when I tested various solvents ( started with mild stuff like dish soap, progressed to stronger chemicals ) it was obvious I would generate huge amounts of fumes and still not shift it. When the worst was gone an old scouring pad with some fairy liquid shifted the last vestiges.

After it dried a nice beeswax polish and burnished with a soft cloth wrapped around my secret weapon of an old wooden spoon.

^^^^probably a copal or Amber shellac varnish, awful stuff! Goes like toffee even with dcm stripper, is easier to scrape off, very nice handrail and good work, a few coats of shellac would of made the waxing easier, FYI Harrells and Mylands traditional are possibly the best waxes in the world.