How would you restain this railing?

[porsche4life]

We are working on reprinting the house. With the new color, the old wood railings look dated, want to restain them in a darker color. Will eventually replace all our tile with a darker wood plank tile too.


My plan was to remove all metal railings, seperately wood from metal. Have metal sandblasted and PC'd and refinish wood railing.


Thuy says someone told her we could redo the wood in place with a gel stain? Anyone used anything like this? How'd it turn out?


So what would you guys do? The metal bits don't look bad, but could use some paint touch up.

[HardDrive]

No way to redoing in place. Epic pain in the ass. Your original plan sounds good, although I wouldn't bother with the sand blasting. Wash them with dish soap, rinse well, dry, rattle can them.

[porsche4life]

Reason for blasting is that hey have at least one layer of brushed on paint. No way to get a nice smooth coat. And it's more than just handrails. We have two sections about 8' long of metal railing separating the raised kitchen from the rest of the house, and about 30 feet that is around the loft that is open to downstairs.


Need to see how hard it is to get the wood off. Looks like it's screwed and glued

[id10t]

What finish is on the current wood? You may be looking at less work and better results if you buy new unfinished wood, finish appropriately, and replace existing stuff. Especially if the wood has been regularly treated with something like Pledge or other polishes....

Check the finishing/refinishing section on this sticky - The Stock Projects Mega-Sticky! - RimfireCentral.com Forums . Yes, it is for spoons but George (noremf) is a fount of knowledge when it comes to wood, finishes on wood, how to remove them, etc.

More from George/noremf on the bad stuff in various polishes, etc - The School of Woodworking Knowledge (questions? try here!) - RimfireCentral.com Forums

[LeeH]

Remove wood. Powder coat metal. Use faux carbon fiber wrap on the wood.

[1990C4S]

Try Java gel stain. It is very good. Nothing to lose.

[wdfifteen]

I would not try to redo in place. Sandblasting might be the best bet if you want to get rid of brush marks. If the wood is hard to get off - as in you might have to destroy it in order to save it, just start over with new rail. It might be smart to start over with new wood anyway, depending on how much it would cost to strip it. I would price it out to see.

[VincentVega]

just start over with new rail

removal, disassembly, sand blasting... that sounds like a ton of work. If you love the style, clean then sand the fish, rattle can. Otherwise you'll be hours and hours ahead with new.

[stomachmonkey]

I'm a take it all apart guy.

Whenever I paint a room every light switch, outlet cover, door hinge and hardware, molding / trim comes off.

Like bodywork on a car, the quality of the end result is a factor of the prep.

[Baz]

FWIW they look just fine to me, Sid.

I know my vote doesn't count.....good luck whatever you do.....

[dad911]

I'd sand and paint metal. Hammer-rattlecan will hide some of the imperfections if you like that look. Replace railing, not that expensive, $5-$10 per foot.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

We are working on reprinting the house. With the new color, the old wood railings look dated, want to restain them in a darker color. Will eventually replace all our tile with a darker wood plank tile too.

I know this idea is $$ but some antiqued brass or cast iron railings would look nice on there.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by dad911

I'd sand and paint metal. Hammer-rattlecan will hide some of the imperfections if you like that look. Replace railing, not that expensive, $5-$10 per foot.

I love the hammered rattle can stuff.

Redid all my exterior coach lights last weekend.

TX sun and wind beats the hell out of them.

Every neighbor stopped and asked what I used.

Used it on some garden planters a couple years back.

Holds up great.

[wdfifteen]

I like it as is myself.

[look 171]

I like the light color too myself, but would paint the metal the same color as the wall so it disappears into the wall with only the lumber showing. Remover and lightly scuff and apply clear finish on lumber if not, sand off the finish, stain and apply cleat top coat.

[look 171]

Just gone back and noticed there are a food few pieces of lumber pieces you have to sand. No fun. Fine a dip and strip place and have the finish chemically remove. Its a heck of a lot less work then sanding. If you are not careful, sanding the finish off might distort the shape of the handrails.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

We are working on reprinting the house. With the new color, the old wood railings look dated, want to restain them in a darker color. Will eventually replace all our tile with a darker wood plank tile too.

Option #3: Remove them altogether. You said it yourself (dated). Plus, it should be less of a PITA to patch/texture/paint the railing mount holes than to remove/refinish/replace the rails. YMMV...

[porsche4life]

Those two little grab rails aren't the primary concern, that's just the piece I had a picture of on hand. I have to have some sort of railing around the open loft, and the kitchen that is 3ft higher than the rest of the house.

Rest of the house will be grey, white trim and woodwork, dark tile. So the light wood will look out of place. I'll price out new wood vs trying to refinish all of that. I know I won't like the quote to replace all the metal.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

Option #3: Remove them altogether. You said it yourself (dated). Plus, it should be less of a PITA to patch/texture/paint the railing mount holes than to remove/refinish/replace the rails. YMMV...

+1

With your grey theme, I think white stained white oak would match it perfectly as it has a greyish hue.

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I know this idea is $$ but some antiqued brass or cast iron railings would look nice on there.

I agree with this, would look much nicer. Those railings, in any color, look 80's style.

IMO.