I made some more progress on the dual curved 180 degree stacked stairways. This has really been a fun job…a real challenge to get the logistics of all the curved railing to all wind together correctly. I will soon be putting in steel studs in the belly of the freestanding stairway so it can be plastered. The rough looking cutoff wall hanging down from the outside stringer will have a maple stringer that matches the inside stringer.
The FHB Podcast crew takes a closer look at an interesting roof.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Whew..So cool. I'd have some serious bald spots from all the head scatchin on that project. LOL
Great work. Looks like a blast.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Every human choice bows like a slave in submission to the absolute creative will, yet this does not deprive us of freedom or fear of taking responsibility for what we choose
( Mansavi V,(3097-98_)))))>
Sweet, I especially like the 2nd floor radiused landing...once again, you make moving from floor to floor an entertaining experience...why don't folks around here go for that curvilicious stuff? Don't worry, we can fix that later!
cause they are too drunk for normal stairs, thats why.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Every human choice bows like a slave in submission to the absolute creative will, yet this does not deprive us of freedom or fear of taking responsibility for what we choose
( Mansavi V,(3097-98_)))))>
dang, I'm drunk when I build 'em, can't we all just get along?<G> Don't worry, we can fix that later!
Sphere: Thanks....by the way....this job is in Terre Haute, Ind. I forget where you are at...?
Stan
A few hours away in Central KY..a bit too far for a day trip to see in person tho'..!18 piffen screws in each tread /riser..my arm hurts.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Every human choice bows like a slave in submission to the absolute creative will, yet this does not deprive us of freedom or fear of taking responsibility for what we choose
( Mansavi V,(3097-98_)))))>
!18 piffen screws in each tread /riser..my arm hurts.
Geeze, there ARE 18 screws in each! (geeze, can't believe we sat there and counted them )
But it sounds like he's got DW doing them, so his arm wasn't tired at all. :)
jt8
If you don't make mistakes, you aren't really trying. -- Coleman Hawking
Edited 1/23/2005 2:14 am ET by JohnT8
John: My wife drills the pocket holes....I drive the screws <G>
Stan
I found some pictures of the stairwell hole before the two stairs were set. I should have posted these first.
Rez: Thanks for lightening those pictures. I guess I should learn how to do that.
Stan
If you are using Irfanview...
From:
piffin <!---->
Jul-12 11:35 pm
To:
rez <!---->
(56 of 70)
24441.56 in reply to 24441.54
Go Image> Enhance colors> grab the gamma corection bar and slide it to the right. or adjust individual components
This screen of mine is dying so i have to do that a lot
<!----><!---->
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!<!---->
View Image Options
View ImageReply
Whatever I can do to keep those pics coming...<G>
Edited 1/23/2005 11:07 am ET by rez
Piffin: Now I know why I cant adjust my pictures....what you said just made my eyes glaze over....I am going to the shop..<G>
John: My wife drills the pocket holes....I drive the screws <G>
ha ha, the family nature of this website prevents me from replying to this statement ;)jt8
When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues. -- Honorý de Balzac
more pictures of the dual stairways.
Awsome work Stan. Hope to see some pics of the finished product.
Mike.
Stan,
Great work. Do you use CAD to lay something like that out? or do it mentally and by hand? Also, is it common to use so many screws on treads and risers, or is that juust a Stan Foster trademark?
Jon
Jon: I just have a simple design cad program that I just basically draw circles and lines with. I tell the computer how many degrees to make each riser line...in other words. The reason being is that I have to draw this stairway out full scale on my shop floor...and there isnt a computer that will do that for me.
Stan
I have to draw this stairway out full scale on my shop floor...and there isnt a computer that will do that for me."
Stan,
Not true, If you are ever interested, where I work, we can generate CAD sections 60" wide and miles long. Tape them together, and you have a monster of a print. Might pay someday for a really complex job. We do it all the time for large glue-ups of patterns.
The neat thing about the high end CAD, is that it literally takes minutes (seconds) to generate any conceivable section once the part is 3D modeled, which for primitive shapes (pure combinations of conic's, boxes, toridals, etc.) , doesn't take all that long to do.
Jon
Jon: I stand corrected. I guess..I meant to say that I would never have a computer that draws this out for me.
You have to understand the simpleness of my business...and my efforts to keep it that way. I plan on never having employees and I dont need to be generating stairdrawings daily. Monthly would be more like it.
I just will never trust anything but actual measured arcs and doing it the old fasioned way. I basically use the cad program mainly to show the client how their stairway fits in their foyer. Otherwise...I would just pencil it out. My design and layout time for a curved stairs is so miniscule......that it is but a fraction of a percent of the time for the whole project.
Stan
Edited 1/22/2005 1:49 pm ET by Stan Foster
thanks for the picts, Stan - - inspiring as they all have been - my hat's off to you - the 'simple business' model is one I have aspired to, I believe you have a more succesful denouement - -
are you considering traveling to Toledo next summer to the fest?
"there's enough for everyone"
David: I dont know about the fest. I tend to take off and fly to some rotorcraft conventions....a lot....
I absolutely love flying my gyrocopter in my spare time. I will just have to see. Maybe there is a fly-in that would have me fly over...
Stan
Stan
In my opinion these are the most beautiful set (or should I say 2 sets) of stairs that I have seen of yours.
As usual, I'm impressed!!
I also admire your way of doing things, I think we are similar in age, the shop I'm working in is considering getting a CNC, I was asked if I would like to learn how to run the thing. I declined, I have no interest whatsoever, cant imagine any reward in it. That's not to say that those that do run them are any less, its just not for me.
Keep up the good work.
Doug
Doug: Thanks for the kind comments. There just is something more satisfying making something by hand ....than having a machine make it.
Edited 1/22/2005 7:59 pm ET by Stan Foster
Stan, your stairs look awesome. I'm sure they are technically perfect too.
How many hours total are in them at this point?
blue
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
Blue: They are not perfect.....I do my best...but I have never built a stairway I was completely satisfied with. I guess we all say that because when you build something..you know every defect.
Blue: I dont keep track of my hours per stair like I used to. I just build them without any concern for time. I roughly estimate how many days a certain project will take....plug in my daily amount I need.....add a big cushion...then just go build it not worrying about if I am behind or not. l let that cushion take care of it. You would not believe how unstressful that makes most of my jobs.
Stan
Edited 1/21/2005 9:07 pm ET by Stan Foster
looks awesome.
Stan, how in he!! do you get the stairs to match up so nicely with those curved walls ?
Joe: Its just a matter of careful measuring. I go to the jobsite...take careful measurements..then reproduce the foyer in my stairshop. I do not put trim on the skirtboard. Occasionally. sure...there may be places that arent real tight to the skirtboard...but these can be mudded in...and that looks so much better than where its caulked in.
The walls in the photos I posted have not been mudded in yet..but there are two small places that need some. Very minor ...maybe a 3/16 inch where the stud was a little wild.
On this particular job...I dont know if you can make an "X" out on the wall....but it was an "X" I put there before I set the stairs. It was a high stud...and I had to sawsall it 3/4 through so I could force it into the cylinder of the stairway. Most of the time....just lagging each stud to the inside of the stairway will draw the drywall up skin tight.
Stan
wow! thanks for the insparation.. Those are beautifull! It's seeing things like that that make me remember why i love carpentry______________________________________________
--> measure once / scribble several lines / spend some time figuring out wich scribble / cut the wrong line / get mad
This is the real deal. Spectacular! Each detail is just resolved idealy. I am not worthy! To me, this job looks like a huge project..technically difficult, with layers of complexity. How many weeks does it take you and your guys?Jake Gulick
[email protected]
CarriageHouse Design
Black Rock, CT
Jake: I dont have any help to build these stairs...except my wife Barbara comes out part-time to pocket screw my risers etc.
Edited 1/22/2005 8:15 am ET by Stan Foster
It would be a good idea to keep track of your hours so that 'cushion' becomes more profit than protection. Not for stress sake just for future info.
Great work . Those screws on the under side of the treads look like they were put in by a CNC machine.
Reinvent: My wife Barbara does all the pocket screwing on my risers. She lays them out every 5 inches. Makes one heck of a stout stairway because the pocket screws along with glue make each riser like an I-beam.
Edited 1/22/2005 8:32 am ET by Stan Foster
Stan, these are my favorite stairs of yours yet! I love the view down through both stairwells. How do you make your curved landing nosings, router with trammel arm? I love how everything flows together on these.
Mike: Thanks for the compliments...you are too kind. I use a trammel arm on my router for the nosing.
If you were to ever look over my tools in my shop...you may be disappointed. I have just a Grizzly 10 inch saw....one of their 8 inch jointers...a 20 inch planer....my old Makita router that just wont give up the ghost...and lots of jigs made out of "scrap".
I do stuff kind of by hand....as it just seems more satisfying than to have a CNC machine make the stuff.
That was one observation that stuck with me years ago when I was considering building my stairshop. I went to a major nationally known stair company and took a tour. There was this behemoth of a CNC machine that a guy was standing there making awesome pie shaped treads for a curved stairway. The treads were beautifully rabbetted....drilled for balusters...bull nosed...and then it just hit me....the operator could have been hired right out of JR. High. The machine was doing all the craftsman work. That wasnt for me...so ever since...I have kept it simple.
Stan
Edited 1/22/2005 9:32 am ET by Stan Foster
Up here in Northern Ontario Canada we have a saying for stairs like your work.
"holy #### those are beautiful, eh!"
Have a good day
Cliffy
Real nice, Stan. Who helps you move them from the shop to the site? Is there enough of that kind of work in your area or do you travel a bit? Looks like you do the mitered returns on a shaper, how do you fix them to the tread?
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Hammer: I just draft a bunch of locals...throw a $20 check at each one to load the stairway onto my trailer. Sometimes I have to pay 10 guys. But...if $200 to load one is going to break me....then I am figuring way too close.
Stan
Great looking staircase,how u do that.
When you say Buuuuud-weiser....
Click the '14933 msgs' tab in the Photo Gallery section and you'll find a slew of old info Stan has posted dealing with various steps.
be no pun intended
Hey,Is the overhead going to follow the underside of that upper staircase?
LOOKS COOL!
SCRIBE ONCE CUT ONCE!
Coyote: I am going to put in steel studs in the belly of the upper stairway. Steel studs wokr great as they twist easily as they go from the steeper inclined inner stringer to the less inclined outside stringer. It makes a helical surface.
Stan
Wait,what I was looking at was, the way the wall studs were cut,making it look like you or whomever, intends to leave a high opening into the adjacent hall,maybe a barrel-vault is going there?SCRIBE ONCE CUT ONCE!
Coyote: It is going to look like the outside stringer just goes into the ceiling. I am going to have a newel post protruding down from the ceiling for this skirt board to terminate into.
Stan
Hi Stan,
Somewhere someone had asked if you had made a book on your story on building stairs. I forgot what you had said about it but I will ask you again if I'm not bothering you about it, is there a book about your life on building stairs? I have been keeping an eye for every story or photos you're putting on this site. (I don't know if there are others that you are posting) Pretty powerful with a simple tools like we all have for a hobby or a job.
Ralph
Ralph: No book....I did start a rather lengthy article for Fine Homebuilding....but my passion for building stairs out weighs my passion for writing about them....
Believe me Ralph...I am extremely humbled when I go look at stairways built by some nationally known stair companies. I have seen some technically marvelous executions of the grandest display of material and workmanship. It makes me feel so miniscule...and I kind of go back to my stairshop humbled.
Then...I just kind of step back and look at the somewhat lower level stairs I turn out....with just a few tools....and I get my confidence back.
I would rather build a simpler stairs and say "I" built it.....not a CNC machine having done the critical parts and dozens of other guys each doing one specialty. I feel a lot of my satisfaction is not only creating a stairway...but also building it mostly by hand, with just myself and my wife.. and doing so with a comfortable profit. Now that is more rewarding to me.
Stan
Edited 1/24/2005 7:10 am ET by Stan Foster
Edited 1/24/2005 7:11 am ET by Stan Foster
"How do you do those beautiful curved miters at the corner of each tread."--Posted by pro-dekI was wondering the same thing.. router with a pattern? They really add a nice touch. Its details like that that make my jaw drop______________________________________________
--> measure once / scribble several lines / spend some time figuring out wich scribble / cut the wrong line / get mad
WOW! Stan those are your best work yet..............
I"m wondering what is holding up the landing of the top staircase? That is a huge canterlever.
How do you do those beautiful curved miters at the corner of each tread.
You don't have to tell me if it is a trade secret but they sure are pretty.........
Thanks for sharing...........
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Bob
Bob: Thanks for the comments...you know what I think of your work as well. The "swoop" miters are just done with homemade jigs. They are pocket screwed on from underneath so there are no visible fasteners.
Stan
Stan,
do you have any shots of a curved handrail glue-up you could post . I thought I saved one a while back but i can't find it. I have a glue-up to do this week and i need to make a bunch of clamping forms. I vagely remember what yours looked like butit would help to see them again. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
I will post pic's of the staircase when I'm done.
Thanks in advance,
Ken
Ken: I have my pictures on a and I cant get them load.
Stan