Tips for Staining Deck Spindles

Deck spindles are the wooden rods that help support the banister as it rests on the frame. They look decorative and the design is usually repetitive, but their function is undeniable. However, since in most cases the deck spindles are lathed, or turned and carved all the way around to make uniformly round shapes on them, there can be crevices that you just can’t reach with a towel or rag no matter how hard you press. There are tricks to staining deck spindles though, and they’re fast, easy fixes for the tedious job of getting a uniform stain color on them.

Building the Coats

The key is to use several sparing coats and letting them dry in between rather than one or two heavy ones. You can control better exactly where you want the stain to go. Put your first coat on with a paintbrush, one with fine, soft bristles. Then wipe it down immediately with your rag, taking care to go after the crevices.

Now here’s the trick part: when you go to your next coat, don’t stain the crevices again. Just stain the parts that are easy for you to wipe off. Until you match the color in the nooks and crannies, keep on repeating that same process. Pretty soon you’ll have a uniform color of the stain. You can also highlight the easy parts by wiping more stain off of them than the rest, giving your deck spindles a weathered, aged look.