Ho, me boyos, time to announce the completion of the bottom rung!
One of the problems with making a silk purse from a sow's ear is collecting enough pig skin. When a ready-made double ended starting step from L. J. Smith costs almost $400 (and that is for a 48" unit, and what the project calls for is a custom made 60" unit) desperate measures are prescribed. We start by gluing together some of those scrap pieces of oak that so many people have been telling me to throw away.
Because the scrap is only 3/4" thick and we need a net 1" thickness, it has to be glued in two layers, and there must be controls to keep the piece from warping while the glue sets.
When the clamps are off, the back side looks really ugly, but we don't care because this stuff has merely been added to generate thickness.
The top side looks prettier... but not by much.
Also, it would be nice to hide the joint in the head-on view, so an additional piece is glued on as a nosing.
Once the stock is planed down to the 5/4 thickness, the step blank must be fitted to the base.
Like so.
Then it is necessary to mark where the radius will be cut. We begin where nobody will ever see it under normal conditions.
Finding the center of the radius...
is a multi-step (ha! a pun!) process...
using such exotic tools as a sheet of paper...
and skill at Origami.
The paper is folded to the step width, then folded in half to find the centerline...
and quartered to find the center of the radius.
We mark the center with a punch. The process is repeated at the other end.
Using a makeshift compass to scribe the outer edge of the radius...
we rough out the cut with the sabre saw.
A custom router plate is required. The distance from the edge of the router blade to the center of the radius is laid out, and a hole drilled to fit a nail as a trammel point.
We are ready to cut...
and so far it looks OK...
but there are some minor items to touch up with the block plane.
Then the edge is rounded over, and the tread is ready to be sanded.
One last check on the custom fit before we sand, stain, and urethane (3 coats).
C'est fini. The tread has been glued to the riser structure with subfloor adhesive. Lots of time and labor invested, but I figure that, had I bought this thing ready made, it would have cost about 500 bucks. Now all I need to do is finish the rest of the stairway!!
One of the problems with making a silk purse from a sow's ear is collecting enough pig skin. When a ready-made double ended starting step from L. J. Smith costs almost $400 (and that is for a 48" unit, and what the project calls for is a custom made 60" unit) desperate measures are prescribed. We start by gluing together some of those scrap pieces of oak that so many people have been telling me to throw away. 
Because the scrap is only 3/4" thick and we need a net 1" thickness, it has to be glued in two layers, and there must be controls to keep the piece from warping while the glue sets. 
When the clamps are off, the back side looks really ugly, but we don't care because this stuff has merely been added to generate thickness. 
The top side looks prettier... but not by much. 
Also, it would be nice to hide the joint in the head-on view, so an additional piece is glued on as a nosing. 
Once the stock is planed down to the 5/4 thickness, the step blank must be fitted to the base. 
Like so. 
Then it is necessary to mark where the radius will be cut. We begin where nobody will ever see it under normal conditions. 
Finding the center of the radius...
is a multi-step (ha! a pun!) process... 
using such exotic tools as a sheet of paper... 
and skill at Origami. 
The paper is folded to the step width, then folded in half to find the centerline... 
and quartered to find the center of the radius. 
We mark the center with a punch. The process is repeated at the other end. 
Using a makeshift compass to scribe the outer edge of the radius... 
we rough out the cut with the sabre saw. 
A custom router plate is required. The distance from the edge of the router blade to the center of the radius is laid out, and a hole drilled to fit a nail as a trammel point. 
We are ready to cut... 
and so far it looks OK... 
but there are some minor items to touch up with the block plane. 
Then the edge is rounded over, and the tread is ready to be sanded. 
One last check on the custom fit before we sand, stain, and urethane (3 coats). 
C'est fini. The tread has been glued to the riser structure with subfloor adhesive. Lots of time and labor invested, but I figure that, had I bought this thing ready made, it would have cost about 500 bucks. Now all I need to do is finish the rest of the stairway!!
You took my comment away at the end there. Twas gonna say, "You can't start posting these unless you plan on finishing the rest of them there steps..." (Time to get crackin'!)
ReplyDeleteOne question...where will the newell post mount? On the second stair?
ReplyDelete