Making 22' Long Stair Stringers

[Richard Wolf]

When making curved staircases in todays large homes with 9' ceilings, the outside stringers can reach lenghts of 22' and longer.
I use a lamination of 3 layers of 3/8" bendable plywood and one layer of 1/4" birch ply.
The pics. below show the process;
I have made a tapered jig which I use with a router to make a scarf joint.
Three lenghts of ply are glued together. The laminations are put into a 26' vacuum bag and mounted to a makeshift stud wall.
Removed from the bag, the stringers are routed with a template. The joints that show are covered with High Proformance Wood Filler and sanded.

Richard

[Richard Wolf]

More Pics.

[Kent Parker]

Richard,

That must be some wild snake during glue up.

So I'm guessing you glue up the scarphs, staggering them so their not at the same location? then after their dry slather up the pieces with glue (what type do you use?) stick them in the bag and try to align the mess on your forms. That about right?

So, how do you hold the laminations in place without damaging the vacuum bag?

Really cool, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

KP

[Todd Davidson]

Hey Richard ~

Informative and very cool. Maybe I can do an apprenticeship from home. :rolleyes: LOL

In peace, Todd

[Richard Wolf]

Kent, you have it about right. I do stagger all the joints. The laminations are glued with Unibond 800. A two part glue with very controlable dry times. It wrap the plys with shrink wrap to hold them in place.


Todd, Maybe you can come down to the "Island" and help me get some of this work done.

Thanks

Richard

[Dino Makropoulos]

Richard.
How long it takes you to take the measurements for each job?
When you need to follow an existing curved wall, do you make templates?
Do you build stairs only from prints?

[Kent Parker]

Richard,

The Unibond, is that a urea resin ? We used a powered urea resin by Weldwood for building spars that you mix with water. Great stuff for hard clamping but not for gap filling. Gave you plenty of time to lather up the staves and with some our masts you definitely needed it during the summer. Took forever to put all the clamps on.

Greats photos, keep it up!

Cheers,

KP

[Richard Wolf]

Dino,
Most of the time there are no prints, the builder shows me the spot where the stairs go and it's up to me.
I often make templates for the exsisting curve, but here is the real secert; by using bendable ply, even after it is laminated, it can be bolted tightly to the exsisting wall because it still has some flex. I than assemble the rest of the staircase, risers, treads and inside stringer at the location and it fits like it grew there.

Richard

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thanks for the pics, Richard. I really like the taper jig. Very simple, but effective.

- Vaughn

[Michael Gabbay]

Richard - we are coming up this Summer (late July). Maybe I can stop by and buy you a beer and you can give me a quick tour. Stairs were always a major PITA when I did carpentry. It's really cool to see how you build the curved stringers.

Mike

[Don Baer]

Richard,
You are the "Stair Master"....lol can't believe I just said that.

Thanks for the tutorial. Not that I'll be building stairs but the tecnique can be useful elseware.

[Dino Makropoulos]

but here is the real secert; by using bendable ply,
Richard

I knew that.:rolleyes:















...That it must be a real secret.
That save you from my 1000 questions.:cool:
But even with all your secrets, you must be good with numbers
and imagination to take on this projects.
I build few straight " Compromised" stairways:rolleyes:
My hat to the artisans like you.:cool:
Thanks Richard.

[Mark Singer]

Great work and explination! You are the stair master!!!!

[Art Mulder]

More Pics.

Hey Richard, great informative post. Is it my imagination or are those stair treads deeper than your basic stock stairs? Or is that just due to them having to taper due to the curve?

thanks
...art

[Richard Wolf]

Thanks everyone, I like to share my knowledge. It must be the old teacher in me.
If anyone is ever passing by Long Island, NY, please stop in for a visit.

Richard

[Keith Starosta]

Dino,
Most of the time there are no prints, the builder shows me the spot where the stairs go and it's up to me.
I often make templates for the exsisting curve, but here is the real secert; by using bendable ply, even after it is laminated, it can be bolted tightly to the exsisting wall because it still has some flex. I than assemble the rest of the staircase, risers, treads and inside stringer at the location and it fits like it grew there.

Richard

This made me laugh out loud. Very cool, Richard!! I'd LOVE to see how this is done in person.

- Keith

[Charlie Plesums]

When making curved staircases in todays large homes with 9' ceilings, the outside stringers can reach lenghts of 22' and longer.

It looks like you have a huge workshop where you build lots of temporary 9+ foot high walls. Then how do you transport a couple 22 foot long, precisely curved pieces of wood to the job site? Or do you do the bending on site?

Thanks for the tutorials. They are great, well done, and very interesting even if we aren't competing stairbuilders.

[Anthony Anderson]

Richard, WOW! I am glad that there are masters like you out there, because if it depended on people like me, all staircases would be straight. And as Dino put it, "compromised":D. My hat is off to you. I believe to be a master stairbuilder, a person has to be an artist and a visionary. You are clearly both. Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Regards, Bill

[John Miliunas]

Richard, once again, you've come through with a great and informative piece! While I realize that you may not think it all that special or complex to do what you do, some of us maroons (OK, me!!!:rolleyes: ) are totally intrigued by your process and the results therein! :D Great job and thanks for the mini-tutorial! :) :cool:

[Stephen Morrison]

Richard, thanks for sharing with us. I find your posts extremely informative and from someone who has built a a few straight staircases, I am really humbled by your work.

My question is do all your staircases have a supporting wall under the "inside" stringer, or is the inside stringer strong enough by itself to be structural?

[Mike Henderson]

Richard, that is really impressive. If you would tell us, how did you learn this complex stuff? Did you have someone who taught you, or did you have to figure it out as you want along? Maybe gradually tackling more difficult projects.

Not only does your work have to look good, it has to be safe - and you have to be safe during the construction process. And you have building codes to meet.

Very impressive.

Mike

[Bruce Page]

Richard, is there any stair building job that you won't take on? You seem to do it all!

You do beautiful work!