r/DIYUK • u/Glittering_Aioli_405 • 19h ago

Bannister restoration

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I’ve recently stripped the paint off my original bannister and now sanded it down. Receiving mixed opinions on whether to varnish, oil or wax it for the best finish (without it turning yellow/orange) Can anyone please advise what would be best? Thanks

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u/QuarterBright2969 15h ago

I usually avoid varnish because you can't really patch it, the whole thing needs to be sanded down again.

I'd either go with a hard wax oil (like Fiddes) or simply oil then wax it. I'd probably go for Danish oil on pine. And a furniture wax (probably beeswax based). You'll be able to buff it to a glass-like smooth finish. And when it wears or gets grubby, a wipe down and re-wax and you're all good again (the act of waxing helps further clean it)

Using oils will darken the pine ever so slightly. So if you don't want that, maybe just wax it. Or Tung oil will darken it less than Danish.

Pine will want to yellow naturally so you'll struggle to avoid that with most finishes unless you stain it.

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u/QuarterBright2969 15h ago

Mightily impressed by how well that's come up and all the paint removal you must have done - labour of love. I left most of mine painted! And even that took ages.

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u/Glittering_Aioli_405 14h ago

Thank you so much!! It took about 10 bloody days of work to strip it all completely. I’ll post an update once it’s finished off 😁

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u/funk1875 19h ago

Water based varnish.