Refinishing oak stairs question

[Marc]

My staircase has never been refinished and the polyurethane is almost gone. The stairs look horrendous. I want to sand them down and put some poly on them but i dont know the best method of getting them to look good.
So far i used a small flat block of wood wrapped in 69 grit paper and went back and forth. My forearms are going to rival popeyes soon. I have 9 steps to do.
How should I go about this.

[jteneyck]

I would start by using a chemical stripper to remove whatever finish is still on the steps.  It's not hard and far faster than trying to sand it off.  After the finish is off you will be better able to asses how much sanding needs to be done.  For that, I would use my ROS or 1/4 sheet block sander for as much as possible.  What grit you start at depends upon how bad the treads are worn, but I would not want to go coarser than 80 grit if at all possible.  Anyway, work up to 120 or 150 grit, and then finish by hand sanding with the last grit you used, wrapping the paper on a rubber or felt block.  Should be ready to refinish at that point unless you have some black stains in them.  Those can often be removed with oxalic acid, available at my local ACE hardware.  

John

[fishhh4]

John gives good advice...
I will add that a good evenly sharpened house scraper can be your friend . Sorta like a card scraper with handle . Just be careful not to gouge .

[Marc]

Thanks guys. The old finish is worn off in the center. There are the black stains, i was wondering about that. I'll see who has the acid near me.

[Cooler]

Stair runners, especially with hardware, make a lot of sense.  

I finished a tall oak staircase with oil based poly (gloss).  It looked great.  But way too slippery.  My dog slid down the entire flight of stairs and we had incidents where walking with just socks would be too slippery.

The stair runner hardware makes replacing the runner easy and quick.  It is fairly expensive to install but, in my opinion, worth the money.

I now live an a ranch house so I mostly ignore this issue; it is other peoples' problems.  But stair runner is the better route in my opinion.  

http://www.signaturehardware.com/hardwar...dware.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=stair+ru...BygC&dpr=1

[Marc]

My wife likes that look and may eventually want it but with my kids and a dog i can see it getting filthy.
Now that you mention it,,i picked up a can of gloss. I wonder id that will be too slippery. Then again satin should be just as smooth.
I checked for oxalic acid and only came up with a deck washing solution from home depot.

[jteneyck]

If your local ACE hardware, HD, Lowes, etc. doesn't have it, there's always  Amazon.              

John

[Cooler]

My wife likes that look and may eventually want it but with my kids and a dog i can see it getting filthy.
Now that you mention it,,i picked up a can of gloss. I wonder id that will be too slippery.   Then again satin should be just as smooth.
I checked for oxalic acid and only came up with a deck washing solution from home depot.

If you use the hardware you can consider the runner a "consumable".  It can quickly and easily be replaced.  While you have dogs and small children you can use cheap Lowes/Home Depot carpet runner.  When you are an empty-nester you can use a nicer grade of carpet runner.

This one from Amazon.com is available in any length up to 40 feet and in about 15 different colors.  About $4.00 per running foot--A 20 footer was about $80.00.

https://www.amazon.com/Custom-Moroccan-T...tairs&th=1

[Marc]

John,,,,
What do you think about this? The sds says oxalic acid dihydrate
http://m.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-1-.../203200559