Handrail & spindle replacement.

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How do.

In a bid to improve my wood-working skills, I'm putting myself about abit like some sawdust coated slapper. Started a job for my brother, replacing his old handrail and spindles on his stairs. Going to take a couple of weeks as I will be doing the work at weekends, making the parts 'off-site' (get me! :lol: ) and stripping the old Newl posts in situ before putting it all together on-site (obviously).

The old set is full of nail holes from where it was enclosed in hardboard and the handrail is covered in about 40yrs of gloss paint as well as having chunks missing from the wood. :shock:

handrail4.jpg

handrail3.jpg


He couldn't afford the £200 odd quid that it would have cost to get it from B&Q or the likes so I'm making the whole thing from scratch....

Soooo...Started out with a couple of lengths of 72mm X 47mm, roughsawn kilndried timber from B&Q for the handrails. £2.50 per 2.4m.

handrail1.jpg


Beat the pants off it with my beltsander, followed by my random orbital sander, going from 60grt, 80grt, 150grt and 220grt. Then, I ran it over my home-made, 1/4 router table (table was home-made, not the router :roll: ) using a large 1/4 round beading cutter (think that's the right name for it), a 1/4 round groove cutter (leaves the opposite of the beading cutter - christ, I need to learn the names of things!) and finally; used a 14mm straight cutter to create the spindle channel on the underside of the handrail.

handrail2.jpg

yes, I know the time stamps are only 1min apart - first pic is of the 2nd of the 2 lengths. Both lengths started out the same. :lol:



That's pretty much as far as I've gotten for now. Going to make the spindles from 34mm X 34mm batons from that glorious land of bodgers. Planning on keeping them simple, just a small chamfer on each corner starting about 50mm from either end.

Base rails will be made from 18mm X 70mm stock, with a 34mm X 7mm spindle channel routed down the centre, chamfered on the corners to match the spindles and a 11mm X 10mm rebate under one underside edge to provide an expansion gap for the Engineered Oak flooring at a later date.

Newl posts will be stripped in situ and re-used.


Budget so far works out at:

£10 for 4m of handrails;
£38 for wood for spindles;
£6 for 4m of baserails.
Other items such as screws, sandpaper, brad pins, glue and clear varnish - I have already but will assume they add up to around £30.


More to follow! :D
 
yep excelent job :D :D

you should have sawn ends [no mouldings] as they are enclosed by newels :wink:

try slightly less pressure against the cutter to avoid bearing marks [yes we have all done it :oops: ]

make several spare spindles to allow for bannanas that appear as the dry out also alows you to disgaurd any with large knots
it also gives you spares :wink:
 
Cheers fellers! :D

The replacement for the longer handrail on the landing is going to be off-set on the newl. At the moment, the spindles from the landing balustrade are fixed to the sloping (raking??) handrail. Looks crap and means you cant get your hand around it for the first/last meter. :?

I've rebated 1/3 off the width of the last 100mm of either end of the landing handrail to accommodate the landing newls. The landing handrail will protrude by about 40mm. This stops it being directly above the sloping handrail and should mean the landing spindles fall past it, onto the landing baserail. This is why the ends of the handrail in the pic are moulded. :wink:

Incidentally: how do you prevent router burn when moulding across the grain? I've tried slowing the router speed, speeding it up and taking the piece across in smaller passes.. Always wind up with burn marks which need sanding off. :? The TCT cutter is still sharp.

Cheers. :D
 
I've rebated 1/3 off the width of the last 100mm of either end of the landing handrail to accommodate the landing newls. The landing handrail will protrude by about 40mm. This stops it being directly above the sloping handrail and should mean the landing spindles fall past it, onto the landing baserail. This is why the ends of the handrail in the pic are moulded. :wink:
ahhh got you didnt want you doing extra work :D :wink:
a small radius on the outside of the handrail will look nicer on the corners returning to the newel post [about 18 to 25mm]

very difficult to get burn free ends on larger bits of wood

things that do work are

reduce the speed by 20 percent if its a variable speed router
do your pass a bit lighter than normal then a second quick pass
you can also damp down slightly for a second pass this may or may not raise the grain enough

you can also use a larger bearing first on the ends then the second pass with the correct bearing

a light sand will also do it if the moulding isnt to delicate
 
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