Dave Shively
01-21-2007, 9:26 PM
I have been away for a while due to some surgery and taking care of my
wife who has not felt well in months. Anyway this is a handrail which I
just finished for a customer in their new home. I only made the short one
not the one that goes upstairs. I also did not make the starting end cap,
it was given to me by the homeowner and I had the fun part of trying to
match it's profile. It may seem like an easy feat, but trying to match it up
with router bits from a catalog or from the internet took some doing. I did
the best I could and came up with a fairly close match. I first glued up
three layers of 7/8" red oak and rough cut a 1/16" wider on both sides.
I then used some MDF and made a template and filed and sanded to get
a smooth and "perfect" copy. I then used double sided tape to hold the
MDF to the rough handrail so I could route it with a pattern bit. When it
came time to route the actual profile the rail was to narrow for the router
base and if it tilted any the whole piece would be shot. So I quickly tie
strapped a scrap piece of rail the same thickness to the other side of the
router and it worked fine. I then used a pocket screw and a 1/2" dowell
to join the end cap and the rail together. The two did not quite match up
but with some filing and sanding it came out great! All that was left was to
drill a bunch of holes through their nice new hardwood oak flooring to install
it. Even though it was a small project it was a lot of fun. Thanks for looking.
Dave
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224349762.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339500.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339474.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339455.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339424.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339412.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339338.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339319.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339303.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339246.jpg
wife who has not felt well in months. Anyway this is a handrail which I
just finished for a customer in their new home. I only made the short one
not the one that goes upstairs. I also did not make the starting end cap,
it was given to me by the homeowner and I had the fun part of trying to
match it's profile. It may seem like an easy feat, but trying to match it up
with router bits from a catalog or from the internet took some doing. I did
the best I could and came up with a fairly close match. I first glued up
three layers of 7/8" red oak and rough cut a 1/16" wider on both sides.
I then used some MDF and made a template and filed and sanded to get
a smooth and "perfect" copy. I then used double sided tape to hold the
MDF to the rough handrail so I could route it with a pattern bit. When it
came time to route the actual profile the rail was to narrow for the router
base and if it tilted any the whole piece would be shot. So I quickly tie
strapped a scrap piece of rail the same thickness to the other side of the
router and it worked fine. I then used a pocket screw and a 1/2" dowell
to join the end cap and the rail together. The two did not quite match up
but with some filing and sanding it came out great! All that was left was to
drill a bunch of holes through their nice new hardwood oak flooring to install
it. Even though it was a small project it was a lot of fun. Thanks for looking.
Dave
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224349762.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339500.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339474.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339455.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339424.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339412.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339338.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339319.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339303.jpg
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL573/3197729/6523784/224339246.jpg