Opinions on handrail/picket restoration

[JacquieJet]

Hello all,

I am in need of some opinions. My handrails (on both sides of the stairs) as well as pickets are all painted white. I got a handy heat gun last week, and have begun the arduous task of paint stripping. The handrail and end posts are dark stained oak underneath all the paint, which is what I expected. The pickets however don't have any stain, although they too appear to be oak. Just a few layers of paint. Does anyone know if this was common? I never thought of oak as "paint grade", but they look original.
I am thinking of keeping them painted, if that was what was originally done. The stained wood that is hidden under the paint I am restoring to original. Currently, the pickets are white. Another layer of paint below looks to be butter-yellow, but I'm not sure if it was white that had yellowed over time?
Does anyone know if there was a "standard" for picket colours in the 1920's?

Also, I'm having a devil of a time getting the paint off of the grooved areas... does anyone have any tips? I have tried a drywall scraper, which is great for flat areas but awful for concave. I have also tried steel wool, but it just tends to smear the heated-up paint bits and doesn't remove any.

I'm attaching a photo of the stairs, as they are today. When we moved in, they were 100% white.
Thanks!

[Gothichome]

JJet, I would expect the whole thing was stained. Depends on what your after as far a restoration, if your after a complete restoration of the wood work in you entrance way you'd best be ready to strip paint every were, but if your intent is to highlight the staircase you could strip the stairs but leave the balusters painted. That would tie in the stairs with the window and mouldings while highlighting just the stairs. My thoughts.

[Casey]

Stained rails and newels against painted balusters (and risers) are a classic paint scheme, but more in line with colonial style. True craftsman was dark wood everywhere.
But you are the one who can tell if there is not varnish/shellac under the paint on those pickets.
I'd be inclined to be true to the house.
Final thought: there was a mishap and the pickets have been replaced?
Casey

[JacquieJet]

Thanks for the feedback.
Gothichome, I was expecting that it was all stained wood underneath as well, but it really doesn't appear to be the case. I'm inclined to agree with you about tying it into the window trim by keeping that portion painted. So, maybe just stick with white then?

My confusion I guess lies in the fact that the pickets are oak, not pine- so why spend the money on oak just to paint them?
And to Casey- I am fairly certain they are original, because of how they are fasened (old nails) and also because of the many, many layers of paint on top of the raw (natural) wood.

[phil]

my house had a similar staircase , it was all painted. my handrail is similar but it had no pickets and It was sitting on top of where the pickets should go.

I stripped all the treads, risers, stringers in place, and sanded , and filled all the nail holes from several carpet installations.
It was a ton of work but I did win. Now I know better I should have just disassembled it but I got it done and it's back to original fir.

what I did was cut new pickets but instead of straight like yours I made each cut on all 4 sides with about 1/8th taper. Wider part at the bottom. Just having that slight taper gave it a nicer appearance in my opinion.

my suggestion , if you want to remove all the paint. take the handrail off. strip it somewhere else. use a plastic scrub brush and lots of stripper and it'll come clean without a bunch of scrape marks.

the pickets are just straight 2x2's with a roundover . I'd just remove those too and cut new ones. It's not enough wood for the labor required for stripping. and they are easy to cut and do a roundover on all 4 corners. with those out of the way you've reduced a lot of painstaking paint removal from corners. look for some nice wood to replace them. if you want old fir or oak or whatever maybe just look around for some old wood beams or doors or whatever you can find cheap and cut that down. I'd keep them and strip them if they are really nice old oak with beautiful quartersawn grain pattern, or black walnut or some really nice wood but if not, if they are just straight white oak , they are just sticks.

Much less labor to make new ones and you won't have a zillion tiny white flecks and tight corners to slow your progress. youll still have lots of that if you don't take the treads apart. Keeping them painted is a lot less work but it's of course possible to remove it all.

I have a molding shop just down the street. I noticed they do stock that handrail profile in fir. It is even possible to buy an exact replacement. Im kinda cheap so I'd strip it but it's a pretty common profile I think. at some point the cost of stripper approaches the cost of new or reclaimed old wood.

flat areas are easy to strip but that staircase has many many tight corners and to get every fleck of white paint out of every corner without disassembly is an exercise in frustration. You can do it but it is faster to take stuff apart. put those pickets on a work table and you can strip them pretty quickly and your knees won't hurt. the board underneath will be a breeze without the pickets there but with them in place it will take many hours if you want it all off.

mine had worse than white , it had red paint as the first coat. red is one color that tends to want to dissolve and it's very hard to remove every trace.


I also did one other thing. when I assembled my pickets I added a piece on top and bottom of the pickets. it just looks like trim. I glued the pickets and top and bottom rail up as one piece. On the ends of the handrail I put hidden latches.
I can lift the handrail from between the posts and take it out , and then I can lift the pickets out in one piece , contained in their frame. this enables me more room to get furniture in the attic.
the hardware on the handrail is completely hidden and very sturdy.

[JacquieJet]

Whoa! Thanks for all the know-how, Phil!
Right now we aren't really in a position to remove the handrail, etc, because we have little children in the house and it wouldn't be safe to not have that for any amount of time. Maybe in the future when they are a bit older I'll tackle that!

Great idea with the hidden latches. I would have never thought of that!

[vvzz]

I'm in a long process of stripping paint and varnish of my turned mahogany balusters and I found that using a brass brush and the heatgun is effective in getting in all those spots.

[phil]

maybe it had shellac on it before it was painted. if so it'll be much easier

[JacquieJet]

I'll have to give the brass brush idea a try, vvzz! Thanks!
And Phil, sadly the wood underneath the paint-only portions have no shellac... just raw wood. Oh well.

[phil]

you might need to resort to child labor