Hi, this is the staircase in our 1885 house. It never got a lot of care except for occasional sweeping and damp-mopping. It is scuffed and worn but solid.

Sorry that the photos are so dark. I had to use the old flip phone camera because I couldn't transfer images from the iPhone to here...

So I've been cleaning it and wondering if there's something simple I can do to help it, maybe a light polish or something, to smooth the surface and make cleaning easier. I don't think I want to get into sanding, given its age. But I don't know anything about treating wood like this.

Any ideas? Thanks!


https://i.postimg.cc/RCQG0KKV/P07-08-21-10-58.jpg

Liquid Gold products have worked for me in the past and I might try this stuff. It's not going to smooth it out much but it will look nicer. Try it on a tiny corner or something first to see if you like what it does.

Liquid Gold Floor Restore

If you want the stairs to be smoother you'll probably have to sand them a bit. Just a light sand with a very fine sandpaper or perhaps steel wool. Scotchbrite will also work. You want just enough to smooth - not to remove finish - then use the restorer product.

I like the patina! But I also swear by Howards Restore-A-Finish - they have a dark mahogany that would blend right in. That stuff works miracles - it would blend all of those bare-wood nicks and scratches right in. It does have a bit of a sheen so I don't know if it would be slippery afterwards (I've used it on all sorts of furniture but never on the floor), but I guess you could give it a light scuff sand with fine grit paper afterwards to rough it back up if it was.

Rustoleum also makes a wood stain that works miracles - that is what I used to go over my whole floor and it added a little sheen and blended in all the nicks without making it slippery. https://www.rustoleum.com/prod...ultimate-wood-stain/ You just wipe it on with a rag. My floors were TRASHED - they are made out of regular 1x pine from a lumberyard so they are soft and were just gouged to heck, and they looked amazing after the stain. At one point I know I posted some before and after photos on the web somewhere - I will see if I can find them.

No refinishing advice here, but man, that's a very cool staircase!

I found it!!!

https://www.gardenweb.com/disc...er-minwax-polyshades

Search the thread for "lkplatow" to find my post with photos.

I would just use stain to color in the scuffed areas. I think the Polyshades has poly in it as well and may not adhere to the current finish.

I give it a buff with some fine steel wool to smooth it out a bit. I might have used bowling alley wax, but in this case I think it is too slippery for the stairs.