What Type Of Sander

I use one like this Woo

Or better still, borrow Pete's

 

You could use one like Zig's Woo.

On the other hand if its round, ie. turned you can use those soft sanding blocks, means a bit of elbow grease though.

Depends on what you are intending doing, is it just a sand down before re coating, or are you intending stripping back to bare wood?

 

If you have a drill Woo, what about a sanding mop
Pic from net

 

Rather you than me.

Is this just a handrail on brackets, or spindles and newel posts?

 

Is it painted or varnished? What finish are you aiming for afterwards? Sanding can be very abrasive and you may lose detailing / get flat spots.

If removing varnish or paint and want a wood finish afterwards I would be careful checking on the type of remover, I had a feeling nitro mors might be caustic. Caustic removers may work quicker and is cheaper than chemical removers but they have a higher chance of damaging the wood and leaving marks.

I stripped a staircase or varnish over the summer, I used colron and wire wool. I started with the wax remover but quickly upgraded to the stripper. Whatever you choose, test on a area you don't see first. I found it slow and a tedious job to do but it does look great now done having removed all the grease and layers of varnish.

Lastly when finishing I discovered many options from wax to oils, to varnish; with and without stains. The recommend option if staining is to apply a stain first then apply a finish, the all in one solutions are not as good, as they work more like a paint whereas a stain soaks into the wood helping to bring out the grain. In the end chose a ronseal diamond hard varnish to finish it, generally an oil / wax can look better, but needs to be touched up every few years, and on staircase hand rails I was advised it was not as hard wearing.

 

I forgot to add if you are just stripping back to bare wood to re-paint, a heat gun might be the quickest option. Heat guns can scorch the wood so not so good when wanting to varnish. But I have generally found heat guns considerably faster and less messy than chemical strippers when removing paint.Not sure how effective they are on varnish

Note both chemical and heat gun methods can very easily damage surrounding surfaces, not a problem if redecorating all areas but if working near finished surfaces you might want to protect them be extra careful

 

Fully agree with that @pete Rather than use a soft sanding block, a Scotchbrite pad could be used. I would add that if it is round, like a dowel, a "diablo" sanding would work quickly, especially if it is close to a wall. Thats despite the fact that its not strictly correct to sand across the grain.

Also, if it is painted at present, and is to be repainted, theres not really any point in completely removing the old paint. Just scuff it and use a compatible top coat.

Powered sanders? Bah, humbugs!

 

If its just a handrail fixed to the wall on brackets its best removed, then hand sanded down using 80 grit to start with, then going down the grades, 100, 120, 180, depending on how you intend to finish it.

If it has lots of coats of paint/varnish on it then I would go with John's suggestion of using Nitromors first, rubbing it off with coarse wire wool once it has been allowed to soften the paint, then wash with clean water.
If you use Nitromors wear rubber gloves, it stings a bit.

You will then have to go down the sanding route after it has dried off.

 

This is only an opinion, and therefore neither right nor wrong.

I personally would never use any kind of paint stripper for a project for a couple of reasons.

First, even the "jellied" kinds have a tendency to drop off the object, and strip something that doesnt need it. Unless, of course, everything is protected, which takes time. At least dust from sanding can be vacuumed up!

Second, after it has worked, the surface needs neutralising. As @pete wrote, this is done with water. This has disadvantages also. Not only does it tend to drip, care has to be taken to neutralise all of the paint stripper. Then of course, the wood has to be given time to dry out before paint is applied.

So, all things considered, in reality, paint stripper takes more time.

I'm still in favour of sanding as the best method, with the addition of tack rags to remove the sanding dust if a really good surface is required.