shaping bannister handrail

[shinobi]

Hi, I have a question regarding a bannister hand rail. Basically, the stair case that I am working with has an 's-shape' profile, as opposed to the more conventional straight line profile. I would like to put a hand rail on this bannister, since one does not currently exist, and it is a bit dangerous.

My question is: how do I create a hand rail for this bannister with an 's-shape' profile? By the way, when I refer to 's-shape' I don't mean literally - the curves are relatively gentle, but there are curves none the less.

Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed in helping me figure out how difficult/feasible this is.

 

[Lee Brubaker]

Shinobi: If you have a router table, check a bit supplier's catalogue for a molding bit close to what you have in mind & go from there. I replaced the painted railings in our home with oak railings. All done on my router table.

Lee

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[shinobi]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. Pictures look good. However, not sure it helps with my problem. See attached picture - as you can see, the profile of the stair case is 'curved'. I guess I could attach a 'straight' hand rail to it, but would like to consider a 'curved' one also - just not sure how i would go about it.

Thanks
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/kazzapate ... 3093507874

PS apologies if you can't see the image - not sure how to work this, but you you should be able to click on the link.

 

[Lee Brubaker]

Shinobi: Okay, now I see what curve you are talking about... I thought you were describing the profile curve of the hand rail. My mistake. Rather an unusual staircase & I would guess that it is your concern on how to handle the change in direction that the handrail will take as it follows the stairs. My approach would be to turn the railing profile on my lathe, the result of course is a circle, then cutting segments from the circle to fit the turn between the mating ends of the railings. You would have to determine the diameter of the circle that will give you a segment of sufficient length to handle the turn of the stairs.
If you do not have a lathe, then I would shop firms that install custom stair railings to determine if they have railing turns & whether they will sell the components seperate from a complete installation.
Here in Canada you would not find yourself in this position because the building codes here would not allow a staircase as per your pic without railings.....namely the home could not be occupied until the railings were in place. From the pic....a very nice home & you need nice railings to go with it. I wish you luck.

Lee

 

[Chems]

Youve got your work cut out there!

I've recently been pondering the same question and my thought process was this:

Straight sections separate, then use large blocks of wood to cut out vertical profile on a band saw then do the same for the horizontal and you should be left with the correct profile. That bit would be the easy bit I think, its the measuring and working out those corners which would be hard.

 

[Digit]

Well you won't steam a bend that sharp in hand rail dimensions so the only way I can see of doing it is to make it in glued up sections then finish to shape.
An interesting job, keep us informed would you?
I would point out that the existing structure is not as per Regs as the gap between the treads is too great.

Roy.

 

[skipdiver]

You might,with a bit of thought and jiggery pokery,get away with shop bought parts.You could fit a newel at the bottom,then a piece of handrail,followed by an upeasing and an overeasing.This would give you an 'S' shape but whether it would match is another thing.May be worth a look.If it worked then the spindles would have to be fitted one by one to the shape and nailed straight into the string.

BTW.That staircase breaks just about every regulation there is.