How to revarnish a banister?

[twinky]

I want to revarnish my hall banister which is a horrible orange colour at present. I started sanding it down back to the original wood colour only to realise that it will probably take me a decade to do the whole thing. So, could I get away with simply sanding it enough to get an abrasive surface and then repaint it with a coloured varnish? Or do I need to get it back to bare wood? Thanks for any advice.

any one? Pretty please.

Okay - I was leaving this to someone more experienced in these things, but here goes! Varnish penetrates the top layers of he wood so sanding it off is hard work, especially on fiddly things like spindles. You could sand it to get a key and use a darker stain varnish in the hope that banishes the orange. Or you could heat strip the varnish or use a chemical stripper if sanding is very time-consuming. I doubt either method will be any quicker though.

Once the wood is all stripped you could dye it with Colron and use a clear varnish or wax it. Or just wax it if the colour of the wood is one you like.

Another alternative would be to sand it to get a key, use a suitable primer and paint them with gloss or satinwood paint instead.

I've done two Victorian banisters plus spindles I sanded the the lastbanister free of all the old orange varnish and it was the most gorgeous deep red (mahogany?) Just put mahogany varnish on it took a while but totally worth it. The spindlesI wanted to paint over so I only rough sanded them in the 90's I did the treads spindles and barristers I would never do that again far too much hard work and exdh varnished them with a dark varnish looked awful. Take your time do the banister properly it will be worth it.

Thank you both so much. The handrail is not too bad to tackle. I think the spindles are the tough bit. Unfortunately my husband is dead against painting them so I need to sand them all and will probably stain them a darker shade. The natural colour of the wood is quite light but shows over a hundred and thirty years worth of dents and scratches. I will have to be patient and put the work in. Sigh. Thanks for your responses though.

I've been working on my bannister for 2 years. Slowly, in between everything else DIY in the house, I've been sanding section by section. it's been difficult and slow going, but I'm almost there now. It is a lot of work, yes, but worth it in the end.

Fair enough if your husband is against it and it is of course, a matter of taste and other furnishings, but if it is a Victorian staircase the vast majority have polished handrail and painted spindles.

I couldn't be arsed doing it properly
i gave it a very, very light sanding and covered with a very slightly darker, cooler coloured varnish. It looks fine.

Blimey Alice! 2 years! Mind you I have done the sum total of 3 spindles this week. Like you I am trying to fit it in around everything else. Only 32 still to go. I keep telling myself it will look amazing when it's done.