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The phone rings the other day and the fellow says he got my name from…and wants to know if maybe I can make a handrail for his spiral stairs. I go out and take a look and it’s a log cabin, from logs off the property. Very cool place.
So he used about a 12″ diameter maple tree for the center post of these staire and triangular slabs for the treads, through bolted. The diameter from the center of the vertical log to the end of the treads is about 34″. He wants to use a log for the handrail with all the little knobs and inconsistancies.
The handrail has to be about 22 feet long and I’m thinkin; any log that long will taper too much, even if I can manage to resaw it, bend it, and glue it back together like you would with bending rail (FHB last issue).
So then I’m thinkin’ “with the popularity of log cabins, maybe someone knows of a source for what we need?” Anyone have a source or any other ideas? I’d really like to do this project and appreciate anything you have to say. Thanks – Jim
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Jim, how about taking a live jack pine and bending it so it grows in the proper spiral. If you started with a 1" diameter you could probably get the desired results in about 4 to 5 years.(you may need some sizable doses of miracle grow)
*Jim... your old stomping grounds.. foothills of the Adirondacks, had a vernacular architecture called "Adirondack" (duh) it was popularized by the artist colonies in the thirties, "the Algonquin Round Table " comes to mind... if you look thru some of the picture books of that style, they did EVERYTHING with knobby tree limbs, furniture, stair rails, etc.. you name it..UCLIU..what i picture in my mind would be a segmented rail, say two foot segments , curved (select limbs from trees).. and the joints would fall over a baluster of the same knobby limb material... selecting these for a taper of say 2.5" to 2"..my tree of choice would be a juniper (i think they call them red cedar also ).. around here in coastal new england, they are the first tree that invades the hayfields when they stop mowing.... so they're almost like trash trees.. they grow to about 25' and one big one would fill your order.. ...i see this rail starting with a knob at the bottom, curving up the stair and then the hand climbs another knob onto the next 2' segment..a second alternative would be setting up a jig, and ripping the same limbs end for end.... doing a half lap but reversing every other piece.. and making your continuous rail with long scarf joints , biscuits and epoxy...anything will be labor of love...so your appreciative customer has to know up front that he's gotta pay big bucks to support the arts....Brisketbean probably has some insight with his southwestern cowboy vernacular....Kermit
*Travel opportunity Jim. Head for the jungle & get a section of one of those vines like Tarzan swings on. Bend to fit and let it dry. How big are those Kudzu vines that are taking over the South? Maybe a piece of that stuff? Some sort of industrial strength ivy? Joe H
*I love these cool projects. I saw a show about some native jungle tribe and how they made their blow guns out of vines.They cut them in half lengthwise, dug out the center and wrapped them to put them back together. Maybe a vine cut in two, routed out, and then glued back together around a piece of 3/8 steel rod.
*Jim,I may have vines big enough. Size? Want one?KK
*I'm thinkin' 2+1/4, 2+1/2" something like that. Will these vines dry to a woodlike texture? Do they have "bark"? Thanks.
*I think I can find that size, they have bark, they are wood but bend easy. Will look tommorow.KK
*Thanks KK, e mail on the way.
*I'd love to hear how this one works out. Probably others would, too. Could you let us know how it goes. Vine-railings may be the next big status symbol.
*You could do in small sections spliced on top of the posts. I've enclosed a picture of one I did. It might work for you.
*That looks great Frank. We may end up doing something like that, but kkearny sent three vines from LA and we are gonna try them out. This stair is about a 36" radius with a tree up the center that the treads are through bolted to. Quite a bit tighter turns than the one you showed. I really like what you did with that one though. Thanks for the suggestion and picture.
*Nice joinery Frank,How'd you pass the 4" sphere test? And tell us a little more on how you joined all the pcs. parts. It's got to be interesting reading.Thanks.
*The design was what the homeowner wanted. Saw it in a log home mag. I told them it wasn't per code and had them sign an acknowledgement and waiver.As for attachments, Everything is countersunk, screwed or laged and then plugged. All splices are shaped with a draw knife or chisel after being joined so that it all blends seamlessly.Here's one that meets the code.
*Man, I'm speechless. That's a lot of wood.Here in Ohio we don't need to special order that waney fascia. Looks real nice. Got a shot of the surroundings off that deck?You do nice work.
*Jim, why not try to steam bend it. Use shorter lengths, posts between. Steam the hell out of them, clamp to a form allowing for spring-back. Just a thought, Bill
*Yup. We may have to resort to that. But I've done some steam bending and to steam bend a 2" log to that tight a radius could be a pretty stiff challenge. The thing is, he has his heart set on the irregular surface of a log. I am meeting with him tomorrow to open kkearny's vines. I'm thinkin' we'll clamp them to the stringer for a few months until they dry out, but I'm not sure how hard these things will be once they do dry. That's one of the things I love about this profession though, it's all just one experiment after another. What an adventure I'm havin'!
*Jim, what about bending vine maple? lots of it near you. Alder poles are cut for a lot of the stir sticks that Reynolds (aluminum) uses, they're long enough with the right taper your looking for and easily enough bent to dry to your specs, sh*tloads of those in Tacoma/Spannaway.
*That might work Chris. If these vines fail, I'll be tryin' something else and that sounds as good as anything else. Thanks.You in Arizona yet, or are you waitin' for it to get hot there?
*Not there yet. Got backed up about two weeks on the project in Yak, L&I did'nt like my breaker box placement so I had to move it...which intailed all the bs that goes with it...then the guy did,nt have a good night or something and decided that since the box was moved, all wiring in the house (1974) too include all homeowner wiring had to be updated...blah,blah,blah. Was supposed to be finished two days ago, I hung the first door today? The cabinets I asked everyones opinion on (steel inlay) turned out ok though (would send pictures,but blew the scanner up, plugging the power supply for the printer into it) It has been one HELL of a month!!