Renovation to an old oak stair

[MikeJhn]

deema

Great suggestion, love the idea especially moulding the joining edge to emphasise rather than try to hide the join, will certainly look deeply into that idea.

The handrail is another story, only the bit shown on the first post would be possible to salvage, that could be a good thing, but you have given me an idea of how I can salvage some of it.

Thanks again
Mike

 

[RogerS]

Roger

Please see the first post, the string is on an existing staircase.

Mike

Senior moment. I meant the handrail which is what I thought we were talking about.

 

[AndyT]

Have a look at this thread. Richard Arnold, who is a professional joiner, shows how he made handrails for a top London store. There's a lot of hand work and time involved.

handrail-wreath-update-t63489.html

I think that to do a good job on a challenging handrail like yours it will help you see if you can take it on or would be better off paying a specialist.

 

[MikeJhn]

Andy

Thanks for the link another good suggestion of how to do the handrail, forming the shape in metal and then making the wood fit to the shape is not something I had thought of, will have to have a go first and then take it to a specialist I suspect. :lol:

EDIT: think I will need a specialist to form the metal shape in the first place, unless I can find a flat hoop of the right radius and thickness, cut it in half and weld straight sections onto it.

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

Repair. Without a shadow of a doubt. Love to see photos of the rest of the houses old features.

Just for you:

Mike

 

[Jake]

Bendywood maybe. Never priced it up, but looks like it would be easier.

 

[MikeJhn]

May well be right, but can't seem to find a source, lots of adverts about it and demonstrations, but no sales outlets.

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

It seems this is an accepted alternative to how tight staircase returns where built in France.



Interesting and would be much easier to stabilise.

Another interesting build, a larger spindle on either side of the tight return, even easier to achieve.



Thinking of getting a few of these to try: http://www.ukstairparts.co.uk/product/5 ... r-spindles

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

Had another thought, surprised its not been suggested, take down the existing spindles and use a Domino jointer up the strings spindles both ends and handrail.

Also found a very interesting post on handrails : http://wooddesigner.org/wreathed-handra ... -easy-way/ Looks absolutely what I need to replace the very uneven handrail I currently have, plus I can experiment and construct util I am satisfied with the result.

Mike

 

[Benchwayze]

ask the housing officer if it has survived this long, how will it fall down now?

That's called exercising common-sense. They don't have much of that these days; and if they do, they don't use it.

I couldn't use that staircase safely, as I need a 'stalking-stick' in my left hand. This seems to be where the Health and Safety people are at odds with the preservation wallahs!

8)

 

[MattRoberts]

How would the domino work? The rail is at an angle, and the domino mortises perpendicular to the reference surface

 

[MikeJhn]

The fence can be angled up the string with a jig below clamped around the string to hold it in place this should allow a vertical plunge across the string, the spindles taken out and plunged on the bench, can you or anyone else see a problem with this, genuine question, not trying to be a smart alex.

Mike

 

[custard]

Had another thought, surprised its not been suggested, take down the existing spindles and use a Domino jointer up the strings spindles both ends and handrail.

Popping a domino in the spindles wouldn't be difficult, you could build a simple cradle that held both the spindle and the domino machine, ensuring the domino mortice was cut in exactly the right orientation. It would be trickier to hold the domino machine in the correct orientation upside down on the handrail, trickier but not impossible. There are two tapped holes on the sole of the Domino machine and many makers use these as mounting points for the jigs and fixtures used in chairmaking, where you're doing something pretty similar, i.e. putting a loose tenon into a pair of compound angled mortices.

Alternatively a lot of chair makers cut these loose tenon mortices with a jigged plunge router, there isn't a better or worse option, it's really just a question of what machine fits easiest into the appropriate jig.

 

[MikeJhn]

Thanks for the input, that's what I thought, but not having a Domino "Yet" its good to get a view on the operation and that my thoughts are not too far out.

Thanks again.

Mike

 

[Doug71]

Never mind the domino jointer what you need is the Festool staircase drilling system (Google it), expensive even by Festool standards!

Doug

 

[MikeJhn]

Doug

That is not expensive, its a stupid price, for a professional that may be fitting them all the time it may be justified, but not for a one off bit of work, I think I will stick to my original plan and build a jig to put the Domino's into the string.

Mike

 

[MattRoberts]

The fence can be angled up the string with a jig below clamped around the string to hold it in place this should allow a vertical plunge across the string, the spindles taken out and plunged on the bench, can you or anyone else see a problem with this, genuine question, not trying to be a smart alex.

Mike

Sure - my concern is the angle - it may be that at that angle, the domino will only plunge a short way into the wood before it reaches max extension, giving you a very shallow mortise.

I guess as long as there is at least 5mm or so min depth in the rail, the spindles can take the vast majority of the tenon length though...

 

[MikeJhn]

Matt I take your point and I have thought about that and from what I can see the depth of the Domino plunge into the string will be dictated by the distance from the fence pivot to the bit, this is adjustable obviously for different thickness's of our workpiece, its just how small can that adjustment be? and if 14mm is going to be enough, perhaps someone will be so kind to measure the pivot to bit relationship and let me know.

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

What am I thinking about, I already have an adjustable angled router base plate on my Makita 1/2" router, not beyond the wit of man to make a jig for that and plunge a large dowel hole into the string, this is what I am now going to pursue, just saved myself £700.00. :lol:

Or a change of tack and use this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ADJUSTABLE-AN ... 0838842199 didn't even know it existed.

Thanks everyone for your input its been appreciated.

Mike

 

[MattRoberts]

I've just realised I'm a complete *****. I was assuming you'd use the domino referencing from the side, when of course you could come in underneath with the fence set at an angle

However, if you do the plunge router method, you will have the problem I mentioned. Mine only plunges a max depth of 35mm for example.

You could easily make a Jig for repeatable placement with a metal bushing and use a drill for dowel holes though