I need a tool for cutting stair treads!!

[Keith Webster]

I need to install some stair treads in a home. The treads are going between two walls and I know that the walls will not be straight. I have seen a tool in some magazine that you can use to measure the distance and angles between two walls for treads. I have found one called the Wheaton Stair Wizard http://www.amazon.com/Wheaton-Tools-PL200-Stair-Wizard/dp/customer-reviews/B0000224Q2 . It looks like a great tool but very expensive...$170.00. Any one else have others they may know about or plans for one you can build yourself. I think a very cheap one could be built but would like to have a good one that I would not have to mess with a lot to make it work right (humm... maybe I do need to spend $170.00). Any info will help. Thanks

[James Phillips]

The walls should be fairly straight over the 10-12" a stair tread will cross. I would cut them square with a table saw and then caulk the ends.

[Todd Jensen]

:eek: !!.......:(

[Chris Rosenberger]

Attached is a picture of one someone made. I do not remember whom.

[Al Killian]

What about a protractor? It will only take a minute to get the angle right and it is fairly cheap.

[Richard Wolf]

Collins Tool Company makes the stair template that you are looking for.
www.collinstool.com/base.php?page=tools.htm (http://www.collinstool.com/base.php?page=tools.htm)


Richard

[Joe Chritz]

The picture is the same one Richard suggests and looks very nice.

I made something similar on a much cruder scale from some hardboard and scrap ply.

It was a one project deal and got recycled but someday a good one is on my build list. They work very well.

Joe

[Jamie Buxton]

I made a home-brew one somewhat like the pic Cliff posted. Mine was made from plywood, and didn't involve any metal working. Start with a piece of plywood that's going to sit flat on the stair tread. It'll be a couple inches narrower than the tread. Add two pieces of ply which sit on top. They're going to slide sideways to butt up against the two sides of the staircase. Then you need some way to fasten the two sliding pieces to the bottom piece. You can rout slots in the sliding pieces, and run screws into the bottom piece. Loosen the screws, slide the sliding pieces, and tighten the screws. If you want to get slightly fancier, use threaded inserts in the bottom piece, and get some knobs on threaded shafts to fit. Knobs on threaded shafts are available at Woodcraft and many other places.

This device probably won't survice 400 trips in the back of some installer's pickup, like that $170 device. But it will do one set of stairs just fine, and it costs about $3 to make.

[Tom Jones III]

When I did my stairs I used 2 sets of these bar gauge heads, one to measure the front width and another to measure the back width.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32585&cat=1,43513,43553

After cutting the tread I used a low angle block plane to make the stair tread fit perfectly.

[Ben Grunow]

If there are only a few, you could rip some 2 or 3" strips of scrap and make your own.

Make 2 that are the depth of the tread and one that is about and inch less than the width, Place the shorties against the stringer and nail the longer one across them. Now take it to the stock and mark it and cut it.

You could even take it apart and reuse it several times. Cheap and easy, (just dont let Richard see you).

Ben