Now that your home's custom cherry wood railing has been installed on your home's staircase, it is important that you know how to properly clean and maintain it. By keeping the cherry wood clean and healthy, you can ensure that the staircase railing will look beautiful for decades to come. Thankfully, cherry is a very hard wood species and does not require too much effort to keep it looking wonderful. 

Follow these tips to properly care for your home's cherry wood staircase railing like a professional:

Keep the Cherry Wood Railing Clean from Daily Use

Since your new staircase railing will constantly be in contact with people's hands, it needs to be wiped off each week using a damp cotton cloth. Once every month, you should add a bit of mild dish washing soap your wash water and use it to remove any built up grease and grime. Follow this cleaning with a moist cloth that has been soaked in clean water to remove any soap residue that may be on the wood railing. Dry the railing with a dry cloth.

Keep the Cherry Wood Railing Protected from Drying Out

As cherry wood is exposed to the elements it will dry out and can eventually crack. For this reason, you need to protect your home's new railing from this fate by applying a quality paste wax to its surface at least a couple times each year. Even though there are many cleaning and polishing products sold in the supermarket's cleaning supply aisle, the best thing you can use to protect your home's new railing is a natural beeswax-based paste wax.

To protect your staircase railing, you should liberally apply the paste wax using a cotton cloth. Work the paste into the wood and then remove any excess using a separate clean cloth. Finally, rub the cherry wood railing well with a third clean cloth and buff the railing's surface until it has a high-gloss surface.

Keep the Cherry Wood Railing Protected from Damage

Every few years it is necessary for you to remove any old wax from your new cherry wood staircase railing and apply a fresh new coat. To remove the wax, you can apply a layer of orange oil to the surface using a soft cloth. The orange oil is a natural way to strip off the wax. Once you have rubbed the oil into the surface of the railing, then rub the railing down with a clean cloth to remove any remaining oil or old wax. Follow this procedure by applying a new layer of paste wax as described above.