Stripping paint from staircase

[D_Hailsham]

The handrail, spindles etc of our staircase have been painted with white gloss. Where the paint has flaked away you can see a varnished finish. We would like to remove all the white gloss and then re-varnish.

What is the best, and safest, way of stripping the white gloss?

 

[regsmyth]

I would use paintstripper - messy, but it won't scorch the wood, and you're more likely to end up with an even finish to your wood. It takes a long time.
You'll need lots of newspaper, scrapers, water and rubber gloves. Follow the safety advice on the tin.
When it's all stripped and dry, you can decide whether to sand it all back to virgin wood, or stick with the normally darkened surface of old timber and just give it a light sand.

Best to experiment in a couple of discreet places. You may also find the wood is not decent enough to warrant all the effort. Some modern timber is so soft and pale it just won't look the business however much effort you put it.

 

[D_Hailsham]

Thanks, I'll give paint stripper a try. Is there any brand you would recommend?

I note what you say about the quality of the wood but what I can see, where the white gloss has broken away, looks very nice and much better than the poorly painted job we have at present.