Next i gave them all a very light sanding by hand with a fine grit sandpaper.
Staining stair treads oak.
Jet minwax gel stain black mahogany.
Homeowners and contractors choose oak for stair treads because of oak s strength resilience and durability.
Home centers and hardware stores varathane dark walnut gel stain.
Choose a stain that enhances the.
To stain stairs plan on at least a full weekend of work including stripping staining and sealing your stairs.
Mark kranenburg from greenmark builders walks you through how to properly prep and finish a set of stairs.
With a sample of my flooring and an unfinished piece of oak i was able to get a water based stain created for 35.
Oak stair treads usually sport a bullnose or rounded edge along their length.
If you are looking for the best finishes for popular wood types such as red oak hard maple cherry walnut pine cedar brazilian cherry brazilian walnut and more you might want to consult a wood stain color chart.
I got a custom stain made at the local paint store.
You ll also want to cover doorways with plastic sheeting and open any nearby windows for ventilation.
Oak is a beautiful heavily grained wood with a naturally rich honey color.
Staining finishing treads.
That went very quickly because it was only meant to take a touch of shine off.
I began by cleaning and wiping down all the steps.
If your wood is naturally a darker shade choose a dark stain to emphasize the natural grain.
Prepare your stairs by removing any carpet and moving any furniture or knick knacks near the stairs.
Scraped and sanded oak stair treads are comparatively simple to finish.
Do this process at night or consider doing every other tread so that the stairs can be used throughout the finishing process.
Allow the stain to dry for 12 hours.
I wanted the stain to be identical to our hardwood floors.
Okay let s recap where we started very orangey oak wood treads and handrail.
As you may recall the plan for my staircase was to have white risers and stained stair treads.
It seems that current design trends imply that more than 90 of all the mouldings and stair treads that we sell these days are stained a colour darker than their natural tone.
This story originally appeared in american woodworker september 2005 issue 116.