how to construct a railing

[Bob Riefer]

Well, I realize I'm a bit late to ask for advice as I'm nearly done with the effort, but I'm going to humbly ask anyways.

Here's how I went about this project (and it's been a total pain in the butt)....

- I had a bunch of scraps of cherry hanging around... not enough to do anything big with, so I decided to make it into a railing for our main stairs in our home.

- I jointed/planed/ripped all pieces to common width and thickness

- Used the cross cut sled to make a bunch of 2 foot lengths and a bunch of 3 foot lengths

- Glued up "components"... half the components had top and bottom layer at 3 foot (with middle layer at 2 foot, centered... creating a 6 inch "groove" on both ends), and the other half had top/bottom at 2 foot (with middle at 3 foot, centered... creating a 6 inch "tongue" at both ends). As components are joined together later, there will be a 6" overlap for glue.

- Ripped and planed components to remove any unevenness from glue up step etc.

---this is where I'm at so far---
---next planned steps are---

- Cut a slight taper in each component (so that bottom side is thinner than top side), and round over top edges

- Join all components together (total length is 14 feet), cut to finish length, sand/finish/install.


Now, I think the end result will look nice in our home, but I must have really done this the newbie way. It was really hard to keep everything nicely aligned, to hit perfect 6" overlaps, etc. And any project where I'm relying on sandpaper to help me get it right feels like I was just not accurate enough along the way. It was all just way harder than anticipated.

Please teach me....

[Bill Dufour]

There are laws about handrails in public places. I do not think it applies when selling a home. The old 2x6 on edge is no longer legal. It can not be so thick that you can not wrap your fingers around. I am sur there are height rules as well.
Bil lD

[Bob Riefer]

Yes all those township rules are accounted for in my project. Still was a bugger of an effort

[Jim Becker]

Bob, laminating something like that isn't a horrible way to make for a strong construction at all. Your profile "sounds" pleasant and I'll bet the cherry looks very attractive in the completed project.

[Thomas Wilson]

Love to see a picture. I am working on handrail projects also. Handrails are a special craft all by themselves.

TW

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks guys! I was worried that I was totally butchering this... almost ready for final assembly and will post some pics before I install

(It's tough to get the components to line up perfectly!)

[Bob Riefer]

OK, here's how it turned out in the end.

I did have to do some minor patches in a few spots (which I tried the sawdust mixed with glue approach... mostly went ok).

Rough cut cherry from a tree from our own property that had to be taken down about 10 years ago. I used boiled linseed oil, will let it dry about a week, apply poly.

I have to repaint the stairwell before install, so I'll use this week to get that done.

All in all, I think it will be a nice upgrade over our old ugly metal railing, and I learned a lot along the way. If I ever do another railing, I will do a lot of research first instead of winging it... this was difficult!



railing 1_rough cherry.jpgrailing 2_parts prepped.jpgrailing 3_the plan.jpgrailing 4_the plan in action.jpgrailing 5_over 13 feet.jpgrailing 6_mitered returns.jpgrailing 7_linseed finish close up.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

Looks like you have all glued laps instead of sections bolted together, that's more work but certainly nothing wrong with
the product. The stained rail is popular now, but I still prefer the dark color and silky finish of old. Good job

[Bob Riefer]

I had considered bolting sections together, but I was in "learning for free" mode (i.e. working 100% with materials already on hand in the shop) and glue was the fastener that I had on the shelf already :-)

[Bob Riefer]

Just to finish this one out, here's the railing installed as of yesterday. In the 1902 house, hard to find studs sometimes, but was able to get all 4 brackets into a stud - but had to leave a 24 inch overhang on each end since the spacing was (oddly) about 27" on center... Since the railing is so hefty there's barely any deflection even if I intentionally try to cause some, so I will monitor for a bit and decide if a toggle style anchor is needed at each end (I suspect not).

Sheetrock was patched and painted ahead of time with the help of the little giant ladder (which made working on the stairs possible). Overall, a nice upgrade over the old two-piece metal railing that was held in with sheetrock screws.

railing 8_installed.jpg