I am giving the hall stairs and landing a smarten-up and wondered
what a good option is for finishing pine hand rails and mahogany
hand rails.

The pine is a bit grubby, probably because it was never sealed
originally, so was going to lightly sand down to get back to clean
bare wood, but worried that varnishing will wear through over time,
making it look tatty again - or maybe this takes years to wear
through ?

Thanks,

Nick

Nick wrote:
I am giving the hall stairs and landing a smarten-up and wondered
what a good option is for finishing pine hand rails and mahogany
hand rails.

The pine is a bit grubby, probably because it was never sealed
originally, so was going to lightly sand down to get back to clean
bare wood, but worried that varnishing will wear through over time,
making it look tatty again - or maybe this takes years to wear
through ?

Thanks,

Nick




A polyurethane varnish would probably be best. Ronseal or the like. If
you don't want a high gloss you can get such things in matt or satin.
Sand it as smooth as you can. Put on three to five coats with a rub down
with fine paper between the last three and it'll look good and last for
years.

Peter Scott

Hi Peter

Thanks for the reply - Have got some of that so will set to and do
as you suggest -

Many thanks,

Nick

On 19 Nov, 16:10, Peter Scott wrote:

A polyurethane varnish would probably be best. Ronseal or the like. If
you don't want a high gloss you can get such things in matt or satin.
Sand it as smooth as you can. Put on three to five coats with a rub down
with fine paper between the last three and it'll look good and last for
years.

I can vouch for this. I did pretty much exactly this with a victorian
mahogany handrail about 18 months ago using Ronseal - still looks
great. Be careful where you put the varnish tin as you work. I had a
little mishap involving me tripping backwards over it and cascading
varnish down the stairs. Luckily this was before the staircase was
carpeted.

Martin Pentreath wrote:
On 19 Nov, 16:10, Peter Scott wrote:

A polyurethane varnish would probably be best. Ronseal or the like. If
you don't want a high gloss you can get such things in matt or satin.
Sand it as smooth as you can. Put on three to five coats with a rub down
with fine paper between the last three and it'll look good and last for
years.

I can vouch for this. I did pretty much exactly this with a victorian
mahogany handrail about 18 months ago using Ronseal - still looks
great. Be careful where you put the varnish tin as you work. I had a
little mishap involving me tripping backwards over it and cascading
varnish down the stairs. Luckily this was before the staircase was
carpeted.

Coo that could have been nasty if you'd got knocked out and woken up
with it dry and you glued to the stairs!

Peter Scott

Nick wrote:
Hi Peter

Thanks for the reply - Have got some of that so will set to and do
as you suggest -

Many thanks,

Nick


IMHO pine looks orrible uless painted. Good quality yacht varnish is tough..

Otherwise polyurethane varnish for mahogany.

In article ,
says...
Coo that could have been nasty if you'd got knocked out and woken up
with it dry and you glued to the stairs!

Having once superglued my bare foot to the kitchen vinyl I can vouch for
the immense feelings of stupidity when ones spouse arrives an hour later
to find you still immobile.

--
Skipweasel.
Never knowingly understood.

On 19 Nov, 15:24, "Nick" wrote:
I am giving the hall stairs and landing a smarten-up and wondered
what a good option is for finishing pine hand rails and mahogany
hand rails.

Danish oil (mostly oil, a small addition of varnish). Screwfix sell a
decent one.

The benefit over a pure varnish is that it improves with age, rather
than flaking and looking terrible. Future refinishing is easy, just go
over it lightly with a green Scotchbrite pad to clean it, then re-oil.

Skipweasel wrote:
In article ,
says...
Coo that could have been nasty if you'd got knocked out and woken up
with it dry and you glued to the stairs!

Having once superglued my bare foot to the kitchen vinyl I can vouch for
the immense feelings of stupidity when ones spouse arrives an hour later
to find you still immobile.


How did you get free? You can't have waited for several days till the
skin went dead and you could pull your foot away. Or did you......?

How did you get free? You can't have waited for several days till
the skin went dead and you could pull your foot away. Or did
you......?

or are you walking around with a tile stuck to your foot ?

Nick