In article , "John"
says...

"al" wrote in message
. uk...
I originally wanted to rub down, stain & varnish my banisters. However the
paint had soaked too far into the grain to bother and some chunks out of it
needed repairing with filler, which would never stain properly. I
therefore just undercoated it in readiness to gloss with the rest of the
staircase in white.

However, I got thinking that it may look better with a dark gloss paint
instead. Had a quick look around and can't find what I want, though I'm
sure such a thing exists. I want a dark, wood-effect paint with a high
gloss.


They used to do something in the 1920's-30's as a cheapo way to emulate wood
grain and you could still see remains of it about when I were a lad up int'
north. I can't remember what the process is called but you paint dark
brown gloss first, then when it's dry, light brown on top. While the light
colour is still wet, cut through with a comb to expose the dark colour
underneath and give a wood grain effect. Or maybe it was the other way
round.

There's probably a large element of skill involved in getting this to look
right.

You can get a textured rubber block - you rock it while dragging
across the glaze to get a varied grain effect. In the old days I
think they used to use brushes and combs and it required more skill.