I decided to use wire rope instead of wooden hand rails. This was completed on May 26th. And last week, I stained the whole trestle in 4 hours. To do this, a friend suggested an airless sprayer. This was one of the best purchases of my life. Through it all, I never had one clog. Spraying uses a bit more stain due to over spray, but it is well worth it. The whole trestle took 9 gallons of Arborcoat Benjamin Moore latex semi-solid black stain.