I've had these banisters in my house for ages that had this really poorly done ugle brown/maroon paint. My wife got fed up with them and decided to strip and sand them.
Wonder of wonders, what's under there is some kind of dense hardwood with some great grain to it.
Now I'm trying to decide how to finish it.
My initial plan had been what I always do: basic stain plus a wipe on poly of some sort. Pretty good, pretty easy.
However, this is significantly higher quality wood than the cheap pine I usually work with. It was suggested to me I look into a Tung or Danish oil, and I've now fallen down a deep rabbit hole of wood finishing.
Any preferred finishes that emphasize grain for pretty wood in high traffic areas?
Wish I could help ya. You definitely want a hardened finish like poly or shellac, but shellac is going to stink up your home if you can’t remove the banisters to finish.
I’ve had a lot of luck with beeswax for a finish, but more for boxes than furniture. There are a lot of great bands out there, though you’d probably have to reapply every 6-12 months (which would get tedious)