Varnish or Stain for Staircase

[asimon]

I have a Victorian house, whereby I started removing the paintwork on the banisters using nitromous, hover this became very tedious, to the rescue my father who advised that it would be better using a hot gun, after about 4 weeks (3 days a week), he has burned all the paint off, he has advised me to get some linseed oil and put on to replenish the goodness taken out from burning, once I have sanded everything down.

I want to bring out the natural beauty of the banister and newel posts, and will be replacing the spindles, with new ones as a number are missing, and for the ones that are not missing they are not all the same, I'm sure reputable builders will sell replica Victorian style newel posts, I will be painting the stairs white, and am looking to put a runner carpet (I think that’s the term), with suitable stair rods.

My query is do I use Varnish or Stain for my final finish, not really sure what the deference of using each is, how ever I did use Varnish (Ronseal Diamond Hard Varnish – Satin Pine) on the new wood floor and doors, for our recently done bedroom / bathroom conversion.

Hopefully from the pictures I have attached, I will receive advice on the type of wood, the newel post and banister are made from and the most suitable colour to Stain or varnish, if that is the preferred course of action, and I would then stain or varnish the spindles accordingly.

 

[asimon]

Some more photos to enable you to give appropriate advice.

 

[DaveBrigg]

I'm not an expert, but since you have had lots of views but no comments so far, I can offer the following:
Your father has the patience of a saint.
Some parts of the wood seem to have received more attention from the hot air gun than others. If the darker patches will not easily sand out, you will need a dark stain to help camouflage them.
If you are not going to paint the new spindles, it will be difficult to get a colour match with the older wood. The new wood will almost certainly be lighter to start with, and if stained, will absorb the stain differently to the original wood.
The best bet may be to experiment first. Buy a single new spindle and try different finishes, then test the same finish on the middle of the stairs, where it can be covered by the carpet.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

OK, as there've been no comments, I'll go first - and try to be gentle.

Four weeks' hard work has exposed something that was probably never meant to be exposed (pine, almost always painted, even in imitation of more expensive wood). So I'm not sure what to advise if the OP wants an exposed timber look.

There, I've failed. Sorry

 

[asimon]

Thank you both for you comments,

Dave you mention staining the wood, therefore I presume that would be the best method to bring out/keepthe beauty of the wood, I will consider painting the spindles, but I do really do not want to paint the banister, as the wood looks reall nice, may consider painting newal posts.

Gareth are you saying that the wood that makes up the banister and the newal posts are all pine, the banister is a darker wood to the newal posts.

Futher comments apprecaited.

 

[Moo]

A couple of thoughts:

Would the banisters and newel posts have ever been french-polished? (cue Gareth)

If you're going to paint the stairs, why not paint the spindles as well?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Nice staircase, I'm jealous!

It looks like pine throughout to me, judging by the pronounced patterns in the grain.

I have also spent many weeks/months stripping paint (I dislike great clumps of paint masking the intricacy of old mouldings) but am coming to the conclusion life is too short. I agree your father has the patience of a saint, and I also agree that the whole thing would look better painted.

But it's your house, if you like exposed wood go for it, after all, the next people can paint it if they want a more authentic look. Perhaps authenticity is overrated, we all have 1000s of 21st C things in our homes anyway. I'm picking out all the panels of my shutters in gentle contrasting colours, the Georgians didn't do it, but I think it looks great.

Be very careful with the stain; nothing is more disappointing than standing back and realising your new exposed wood is the colour of a Brazillian tart's new hair-do. I've tried a lot of stains and have at last found one that is a sensible dark brown with the merest hint of red about it- it is a water stain called "brown mahogany" from this company:

http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com

I cannot recommend their wax, though, it is too thick and slides into the grain leaving the whole thing white. (I should have used a sealing product before this wax I now realise) Go for linseed oil or perhaps one of the "osmo" waxes people on here like very much. As others have said test a small inconspicuous area before you commit.

Varnishes wear badly over time, and in my view, have an un-robust, plasticcy look about them.

It's going to look fantastic with a new runner down the middle and all the rods and nosings or whatever they're called! Good luck.

 

[Carol]

These stairs are almost identical to ones we had in our Sherborne (Dorset) house twenty years ago! I too stripped all the many layers of paint off, but after numerous suggestions from others ended up re-painting all but the banister rail as it was fairly grotty pine (with filler) and would have been painted originally. The broken newel posts on ours were copied by our builder after numerous trips to local salvage yards failed to reveal any similar, although yours are identical!

I am embarrassed to admit I wire-wooled and then used (stands back to avoid the brickbats) Ronseal to varnish the rail.

In my defence it was my first renovation and I knew no better. And it looked lovely!
Your father is a treasure! I hope you buy him a nice present for his efforts.

 

[Carol]

I also left the ball on the newel post unpainted and varnished, but was told it looked naff!

 

[JoceAndChris]

I am embarrassed to admit I wire-wooled and then used (stands back to avoid the brickbats) Ronseal to varnish the rail.

I've done far worse! And most peole seem to to have no snobbery at all regarding varnish.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Not being a much of a fan of varnished pine or white woodwork for victorian interiors I wax polished my handrail (it is mahogany), painted the spindles matt black and the stairs themeslves a darkish grey. I too have used a runner and rods. There was evidence that the stairs were originally painted in imitation oak.

In a confined stairwell painting the spindles black has the effect of making the space look bigger; the eye is not stopped by them (as it would be if you used white) but drawn through to what lies beyond.

 

[JoceAndChris]

A typically classy solution from you, Nigel!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

A couple of thoughts:

Would the banisters and newel posts have ever been french-polished? (cue Gareth)

If you're going to paint the stairs, why not paint the spindles as well?

Handrail might have been exposed timber, I doubt the rest was.

 

[AMc]

I think the main objection to varnish relates to its use on floorboards where heavy wear removes the finish in places and you have to resand the whole floor to recoat evenly - with wax or oil finishes you can recoat without sanding back AFAIK.
On a handrail varnish should wear better (less) but I would probably look at a wax or oil finish anyway as there is (IMHO) no particular need to seal the wood in with modern varnish.
If the handrail is in good condition then I'd look at a natural furniture wax e.g. beeswax but I'm claiming no expertise