Sanding down a varnished balustrade/spindles

ashe

Hi, 

we've got a small area of wooden hand rail / spindles / balustrades etc - forgive the potential misuse of terminology. 

It's deeply scratched, had a bannister removed, not aged well etc and will at some point be replaced down the line but as we have cats I want to see how they hold up when it's properly painted and given a matte varnish to protect it. It's currently more a stain than a varnish. 

We'll want to paint it a light colour, do we need to sand off every bit of stain or do we just need to get lost off and key the rest, then base coat it and give several coats of paint to build it up? It's hard going even with a sander because of bevelled edges

ashe

(Also same question but if we were to paint it a dark colour)

tizerbelle

Honestly, I'd be tempted to just do a very light sand to provide a key and then 2 coats of a combined wood primer and undercoat followed by 2 coats of satinwood or gloss (as you prefer)

ETA: Actually, I probably wouldn't bother with the sanding!  

Mutton_Geoff

Just key the surface (and remove old high spots) with sanding sponges, then a coat of Bulls Eye primer then your light colour, or straight on with darker colours.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/norton-sanding-sponges-68-x-100mm-120-80-grit-6-pack/486jf

John_the_Boy

I painted ours fairly recently which were stained mahogany. I just used wire wool to key the varnish and painted over with a water based white paint. Took 3 coats but there is no bleed through. Obviously water based paint won't be as hard wearing as oil based but it has stood up to 2.5 years of use so far. 

ashe

I primed it but then we decided to definitely go with black. The primer has at least coated it, have got some satin black and going to give it 3 coats and then varnish it with satin varnish. 

For the paint, is a foam or napped roller better? And assume regular paint brush for the varnish?

ashe

Quick cheeky bump as hoping to start work on this tonight! I've got both foam rollers and napped rollers, as well as some brushes for the small parts that need cutting in, but unsure on what is best for satin wood paint, a nap roller or a foam one? 

Eldi_Dos

As you are using black I would use the cheapest  and dump after use, although personally I would just use brush.

ashe

Progress so far - I've got one more coat to do, but have taken off the masking tape to neaten up any parts that were missed by the carpet line etc before I do a final coat 

I've bought a tin of matte varnish to help protect it, I take it that is best brushed on rather than roller? 

Massively prefer it now, the old wood stain really was awful and showed every slight mark / scuff, I'll hopefully be able to touch this up fairly easily and when we get the flooring redone it will pop a lot more 

ashe

This is the varnish I have purchased:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/ronseal-trade-quick-dry-interior-varnish-matt-clear-750ml/859ht

am second guessing myself now as it talks about the wood showing through - is this the best product to provide a protective surface or do I need a different product for painted surfaces?

she wants matt effect so used matt pair and got matt varnish. We have 2 cats so hoping to give it at least some protection from claw marks but then thinking if it does get scratched does varnishing make touch ups more complicated? 

When using this, or another product, do I use masking tape same as when painting to avoid it getting on walls & glossed areas etc?

ashe

Just resurrecting this - quite liked the finished result but as we do have two boisterous kittens it does have a few small marks but still infinitely better than how it was 

we've just taken the carpet up ready to replace next week so seems an ideal time to sand and paint the parts that couldn't be reached before while the stairs and landing are down to the floorboards 

it was previously primed, 3 coats of black and then 2 coats of varnish. 

To do a top up, do we need to scuff it well with sand paper again to key the varnish, then prime again and paint / varnish again? Or would we be able to just scuff then paint?

if it does need priming again, can you get black primer as imagine that would reduce coats needed down to two.