Tool/Project Gloat

[John Hixon]

My brother-in-law gave up on some other ways to get his new stairs built and asked me to do it. (Something I've never done)
I had to add the framing on the right of the stairway (Whew :eek:) cutting the stringers (never done that before). It used to be a straight stairway, down the left side with some kind of filler/plant shelf on the right.

He already had the oak treads and I had to find a way to cut those, soooo, I went down to the blue BORG (No time for shipping) and brought home the Bosch 4100 you see in the pictures.

Now.. How to cut the miters, :confused:. Decided to try the Incra Basic Build-it System and even though there were none available locally, Amazon bailed me out. Ordered one and had it in two days. It was in time, I had other things I could do in the meantime. (much cheaper that retail, as well)

I am sure that the saw is not perfectly aligned out of the box, but I checked everything as well as I could measure and couldn't find anything to adjust. Pretty Darn Good.

The Build-it System did everything I needed, almost. The miter slider that came with it (18 inches) was too short to work with the 11 1/2 wide treds but I got the 24 inch version locally and off to the races.

All the joints are not perfect, but they approached the goal after I got a few under my belt.

Man, have I taught myself a lot in the past two weeks.:D

Now stain, finish and install.

[Matt Ocel]

Nice work.

P.S. don't let an Inspector see the stairway.

[Jack Camillo]

i had the same thought before i saw your post. hope there's no kids in the house, and hope the owner doesn't sleep walk. But you did do a good job on the stairs.

[Shawn Honeychurch]

The stairs look beautiful, if there are kids in the house one would hope the parents know how to parent. As for sleep walkers, lock the doors.

Fantastic job.

[John Hixon]

They aren't done yet, risers and railings are yet to be installed. What's the issue with inspectors???

[Kurt Rosenzweig]

What is the rise and run? Pictures can be deceiving but it looks awful steep and the rise looks like it changes. Not trying to tear your down, but you did ask. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo. As for the saw I've been eyeing that exact one to replace my old Makita. Congrats

[John Hixon]

The rise is 7 5/8 and run is 10. Not too steep except on the top three steps of the right side. The left side is exactly as the builder left it.

The top three (18" wide at most) the run changes as approaching the corner, and gets down to a run of about 7". I figured that part of the stairs wouldn't be used anyway.

It looks steep in the picture, but it's not.

I think the saw is great. Even without the gears at each end of the fence (like the Dewalt, I think) it sets square every time. Really easy to use and ripping is practically perfect.

PS I don't feel ripped by constructive (pun intended) criticism. I don't know everything and I have never found a person that I couldn't learn something from.

[Matt Ocel]

John -

The top three are the ones that catch my eye.

Can you take a picture from standing on the top of the stairs looking down?

[John Hixon]

This angle should suffice.
As you approach the top of this flight it is similar to a spiral staircase. The second half of the stairs, above the landing is just straight and parallel.
If you let your eye follow the white risers, that is the original staircase. Just straight down the far wall.

[Matt Ocel]

John -
Your stairway does'nt fall within the 4 typically listed stairways.
1) Straight or Standard
2) Winder
3) Spiral
4) Circular

Your stairway would not pass in any of these catagories, as those steps at the top have to small of a tread.

Treads have to be a min. of 36" or 26" in on a spiral.

Sorry to be the delivery guy with the bad news.

[Matt Ocel]

You need Richard Wolf the Stair GURU to look at it.
He da man when it comes to stairs