How to get shiny looking banisters!

[palmerasun]

hi everyone,
I am currently stripping my stair banisters down to its natural wood, i would like to get the high shine look on them but am unsure of what to use to achive this, have been to b&q for ideas of a stain etc but am not finding it very helpful! I have an idea of the stain but not sure of how to get that shiny look. didnt really want to use varnish. Thanks in advance for any tips!

 

[motorbiking]

The process is a combination of sanding and polishing. You need to sand them as finely as you can, I personally then use a danish Oil rubbing back each coat, with either 000 wire wool or similar. Finally I use a wax and build up the layers with a cloth. You can wax on with a wet cloth which speeds up the process, but gives more of a gloss look.

Of course the first job is to get all the little flecks of paint out otherwise it will look terrible polished up. If your banisters are not any kind of nice hardwood, its easier just to replace them with a good core wood or ideally a hardwood.

 

[Tigercubrider]

You can always use polyurethane varnish.

I did my (new) hardwood banisters by sanding as above, applying a diluted varnish, and rubbing down with wire wool between many coats

 

[geraldthehamster]

You can always use polyurethane varnish.

I did my (new) hardwood banisters by sanding as above, applying a diluted varnish, and rubbing down with wire wool between many coats

That's exactly what I did (with softwood). I used a clear varnish and added solvent-based wood dye to taste. It's very shiny.

Cheers
Richard