Stripping dado rails and banister

bb69

Hello

I need to strip my rails and banister and spindles then varnish them again.. I have a heat gun but just wondered whether anyone has any additional tips to make life easier ?

I will need to sand the banister and thinking of hiring - Do I need a particular sander?

Sorry if questions seem obvious, its just i'm a novice

Thanks in advance

macman

Sanding willl destroy any fine features, Nitromors varnish remover is probably your best bet. A horrible job but will give the best end result. I never manage to use a heat gun on detail without scorching it.
A delta sander might be useful for some bits, but not worth hiring, as they're so cheap to buy

phill99

Macman is right. A heat gun can easily scorch the wood. Nitromors or Ronstrip is better. Slower but will give a better result.

ormus

i disagree. id rather use the heatgun everywhere indoors. chemical strippers are ok outside or inside an empty house.
they are messy and dangerous.

Inforapennyinforapound

Just done my stairs/spindles etc.

A horrible,long labourious job.

We used hot air gun and chemical stripper.The gun was good on long flat areas and my tip is to use the scraper and gun at same time i.e follow gun with scraper.
Use the chemical stuff on the more intricate parts.We found a wonderful small brush from lakeland which is intended for grout cleaning.

As for any burnt wood? Well in our case underneath the varnish it became a feature i.e we varnished in walnut and the occasional darker bits of wood gave it that 'old' look,

It was worth it but be prepared for lots of mess and do an hour a day or so beacause it is boring.

bb69

Thanks for the advice everyone
Wow - Just finished clearing up after day 1 ! So tired! I hope its worth it! lol

Made some good ground I think... Spindles are a different colour (white) to the banister which is dark wood :S
I also popped out to get a chemical stripper which actually worked pretty well on the spindles as there is only one coat of varnish and i'm assuming a primer underneath?

My dilemma is with the handrail - I have used the gun but it will be difficult getting underneath i think - I am not sure whether to just replace it....?

I will certainly have a lot of work on my hands! I want this done in 2 weeks and hall painted before I get my carpet in Hmmmmm I will try and do at least 2 hours a day and hopefully start painting at the weekend..

Thanks I will look up a delta sander

I'll let you know how I get on

macman

Spindles are usually softwood, whereas the rail will be a much more expensive hardwood. The Victorians woud never have used varnish on the softwood, they were made that way because they were always intended to be painted.
When you have finished stripping, make sure you clean the surface very thoroughly with white spirit to remove all trace of the chemical stripper, Don't use water (or anything water based) as it will raise the grain.

bb69

Can I also ask because of the colour differences between spindles and rails do I need to paint a base of some sort onto the wood first before varnishing?
Thanks

macman

bb69 wrote: »

Can I also ask because of the colour differences between spindles and rails do I need to paint a base of some sort onto the wood first before varnishing?
Thanks

You can't varnish over paint. Buit you could either use a wood stain to darken the softwood first, then varnish, or use a tinted varnish (rather than a clear varnish) to achieve the same effect. But it'll never look like real hardwood, and the take up of wood stain can be uneven.
If you do try this, experiment on a piece of waste softwood first, because once you've stained it you cannot remove it.

bb69

macman wrote: »

You can't varnish over paint. Buit you could either use a wood stain to darken the softwood first, then varnish, or use a tinted varnish (rather than a clear varnish) to achieve the same effect. But it'll never look like real hardwood, and the take up of wood stain can be uneven.
If you do try this, experiment on a piece of waste softwood first, because once you've stained it you cannot remove it.

Sorry for all the questions
I think I mean a primer before the varnish - although the spindles are a white colour they have a white coating underneath the varnish.
The darker wood had varnish , a white coating ? paint and then there is the wood.

I think I will have to do away with the natural varnished look, and go for the more artificial varnish look (thats what i had originally) but the wood was cracking probably because of the many layers of paint! lol

Oh I just want my old varnish look back now .... I hope it doesnt look worse than when I started out

I think I have found a sander.. the black and decker mouse apparently it has attachments for smaller areas so hopefully will help me do my handrail, as long as I don't sand it to the size of a pencil that is!! :rotfl:

I will finish stripping and prepping, then paint walls then sand and hope for the best!

macman

I don't understand why varnish would have a white layer under it? You don't prime under varnish, because it would block the natural wood from showing through.
Perhaps you could post a picture to make it clearer to everyone.