This issue’s Trick of the Trade comes from WFB author/blogger Angelo DeSanto of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based Dande West:
A client asked if I could make the newel post at the bottom of the staircase look better, and I said yes. I removed the top pieces to sand and stain them individually, and they came apart with no damage, but the spindles were rabbeted into the treads. I would have had to break them to remove them, so I left them alone except for one spindle so close to the post that there was barely any space. Sanding the finish off the post didn’t seem possible, and leaving a strip of old finish was not the signature I wanted to leave behind. I resorted to using every tool I had. A sharp-edged knife seemed to kinda work, but the gap was too small to get a good angle. The little pencil-shaped belt sanders were nice but not useable in this case because of the direction of the grain. In a fit of inspiration, I fastened a brand new 11/2-inch Stanley scraper blade onto a large paint stir stick—the 5-gallon size stick, so the wood was stronger. It worked! Using both hands on each side of the spindles, I was able to scrape the finish off to bare wood.
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