Do you need to nuetralize wood after stripping?

Sorry about my formatting....

I plan on stripping my oak stairs. I really have two questions-

First, do I need to do anything with the wood after using the stripper, like rinse with water or vineger or something? I ask cause I thought I read once that you need to.

Also, I have two sets of stairs. One set had carpet on it for a number of years and has barely any poly on it. The other set didn't have carpet and has had a few coats of poly on it. I plan on stripping the second set but not the first. Will the wood look different because one was stripped but the other wasn't?? I plan on sanding both too.

When done I'm going to stain them a darker color and seal with oil based poly.

Thanks- Kevin

It depends on the stripper you're using. Lye based strippers tend to require neutralizing-- and since lye-based strippers discolor the wood, you're not liekly to use those.

Strippers like methylene chloride and pyrroloidine, while nasty in terms of vapors, do not need to be neuralized. These chemicals evaporate, and don't hurt the wood very much. But you'll need to clean the wood, and that can be done with denatured alcohol.

Avoid Citrustrip, BTW. It has a neutralizer, strangely enough, but both it and the neutralizer smell horrible. Make sure you have ventilation, fresh air, a respirator mask, and neopreme gloves. Try Peel-Away 6 or 7.

If you're sanding them both, then you're probably going to take the finish off both, and any differences in appearance will be due to the wood itself and uneven staining afterward. (BTW, sanding will also strip the paint off. But wear a good vent mask-- it's messy.)

Neutralizing is only necessary with the so-called "caustic" or lye based strippers. However, I would tend to go towards one of the peelable strippers such as Peel-Away for there neatness and fairly nontoxic chemicals.