Starting on the Details for the Stairway

 HI!

We're starting on the details for the stairway now. Deb has been looking at balusters .... you know, the upright posts that support the handrail of the stairway. The balusters she's chosen are 1/2" square iron with one of three designs. There's a plain one, one with one twist, and one with to twists. Deb had to work out a pattern that works for each of the stair treads and as an overall pattern from top to bottom.

The details ...... all of the stair treads have to be replaced with hickory and sanded, three holes drilled per tread, balusters installed in each hole and the top rail attached.








There are three rails on the stairway. Two keep people who are on the main floor from falling into the stair well. The other one curves up from the entry level start of the stairway to the main floor, up the staircase.

Creating a curved handrail is like putting together a picture puzzle with 5,000 pieces ...... and no photo to help out! The rail has a profile - the way it's shaped. The profile is milled out of whatever wood one desires and it's continuous for the length of the stairway. Our handrail up from the lower floor is 28 feet long ..... about at the top end of the length range for a continuous rail. Then the milled profile is cut along the length into either 8 or 10 pieces depending on the radius of the curve that the rail needs to fit. Ours is 8 piece, and each piece is 28 feet long ..... the puzzle parts.

Next, the line of the rail is drawn on the stair treads; when complete, the handrail will be exactly above the lines drawn on the treads. On each tread, on the line, and l-shaped bracket is fastened to the stair tread. These are the braces that will hold the handrail while the glue dries. On a separate table, the 8 pieces are glued together. One end is clamped to the first L-bracket ..... the rail assembly is bent and attached to the next L-bracket ...... and so on to the last L-bracket. The individual pieces of rail move and flex as the assembly is bent and attached to the next L-bracket. Once all that is done, the glue dries and the assembly is complete ....... except for cleaning off the glue, sanding the assembly, staining it to the right color, and attaching it to the balusters.

So far, getting the three rails bent and glued has involved two guys for three days ........