Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Stripping paint from a staircase banister

My 100 yr old home has an oak staircase that has been painted with many, many coats of paint. I estimate 6 to 10 coats. We recently stripped the hardwood floors and stair treads, and now I want to strip the banister railing only, not the balusters. I read the info on stripping but I am nervous. How long should it take? How many treatments of paste remover should I estimate? I have refinished before, a dresser, dining room table, but I am concerned that I will ruin the rest of the staircase, since I can't take it down and then put it back up. Any thoughts or tips on doing this well?

Since you don't know how many coats of paint (or what kind) you're dealing with it's impossible to even guess how many applications of any stripper it will take to do the job. I can only hope for your sake that the bannister had a clear finish originally and the paint was applied over that - it will make the final cleanup a lot easier. Just follow the directions on the can for application.

For the floor and surrounding areas - lots of newspaper taped in place. For the ballusters you have a choice of materials to avoid stripping them along with the rail - the easiest and least messy would be a good paste wax. Stripper won't penetrate it. In fact, many strippers contain wax. The wax floats to the top when the stripper is appplied and keeps the stripper from drying out.

Where the ballusters join the rail may be a little ticklish - getting wax on the spindles and not on the rail, but you'll manage, I'm sure.

I suggesdt you use the PEEL AWAY 7 product which will do the removal in one application and will keep the natural color of the wood. It is a paste and will easily adhere to the surface.