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I have drooled over the fine examples in the gallery section, and need a bit of advice on bent stringer forming.
How do you fabricate bent stringers? Surely not steam bend the entire lot!?
If laminated, what thickness? How do you create the laminations?
How do you form them, ie. how do you get them all to stay together without ‘pinging’ away from each other, as i’m sure theres quiet a bit of strain in there. Surely clamps aren’t enough?
Thanks
Enthusiastic Amateur!
Replies
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Francis: I make my curved stringers out of 10.5 inch rips of luan, laminated with four layers, and then placing an 11.25 inch wide face laminate over the luan. This face laminate is scarf-jointed if it is over 16 ft. so as the face laminate is continuous. Also, I place strips of wood to hide the luan laminates. These strips of wood are the same species as the face laminate, making the whole stringer appear to be one solid bent stringer. I use clamping cauls lagged to each stud to apply the clamping pressure. There is much more to elaborate on this , but this is it in a nutshell. Here is a picture of one just being started in my shop. I tack the first laminate in place, glue all the other laminates including the face laminate in one glueup. It is an extremely busy time for about 30 to 45 minutes. Hope this helps.
*Brother Miles,Many of us do this, but Stan's the man when it comes to doing this all the time. The rest of us just stumble through as we are called upon for this kind of thing. We make it happen, but few of us are as well versed in this sort of thing as Stan is.As Enthusiastic as you may be, this is not for the beginner. No offense intended. It takes volumes of knowedge and experience where most of us who pull it off just have chapters.Stan and others have graced us with many post on this subject. Look through the Archives under curved stairs for a beginning of an education. Enjoy.Ed.
*Ed: Thanks for the comments, but I honestly think my work is overrated. I know my limitations and I see projects posted by Armin Hammer that I still am trying to figure out how he does them. I just find stairbuilding very fascinating and I have much more to learn.
*Francis: Heres another view of a stringer being laminated in my shop
*Heres a curved stringer just after being mitered and pocket screwed. You can make out the laminations. The face laminate is solid poplar milled down to 1/4 inch.
*Stan,How do you cut the miters?Ken
*Stan may be modest, but his stairs aren't. Armin's got a curvey thing going too. I've done 'em, and like Ed says, it was 'cause I had to...I wish I could have apprenticed with one of the aforementioned...oh yeah, start buying clamps...
*Ken: I cut the miters with either my little DeWalt cordless, or my DeWalt 708 miter box. Usually it is with the cordless. It is easier to leave the curved stringer on the bench to cut the miters.
*Snorts, you don't buy clamps you make them. Besides the low cost my home brewed clamps have the ability to apply pressure to both edges of the tail laminate. I use as many clamps as will fit on, as many as 75 per 16 ft section. The joints virtually disappear.
*Buck: Armins right. I make mine out of 5/4 x 2 inch stock. I have holes drilled in the ends for either drawing them up with bolts or clamping as shown in the picture. Also it helps to have a slight crown built into your clamping caul. This crown is placed towards the laminate and helps distribute the clamping pressure to the middle better.
*Stan,I assumed you used some sort of saw, but when you use your cordless, are you using a jig?Ken
*Ken: I just clamp a guide parallel to my cutlines and make the cut. Depending on the direction of the stairs, I sometimes have to run the saw backwards.
*Errrrr, thanks so much for the replies.it looks like i'm gonna have to get another workshop, about 4 times the size of my existing one just to fabricate these things!Stan, wonderful stuff, thanks for the pics.I have actually just recently finished my own staircase, straight up and down, GF->HalfLanding->firstFloor->halfLanding->2ndFloor. it is a mix of enclosed stringers, and open sided, about 28 steps in total.What amazed me was just how long it took me to complete. I have been going solid, well, weekends and most evenings anyway, and its taken me 4.5 months.How you guys manage to create these masterpieces in such short time is aweinspiring!If I can get my hands on a digital camera, I will try and post em!Keep up the excellent workKind regards, Francis
*Short amount of time?? Where did you get that notion. Check some of my picture posts in the gallery section, there is nothing quick about any of this kind of stuff.
*Francis: Yes, please post some pictures. I am sure it is nice. Like Armin says, these stairs are not done in a short amount of time. Some take months. Also, if you dont work on them everyday, that is bound to add a lot more time. One tends to collect techniques and jigs over the years to improve the quality of the work and do it more efficiently. One thing I have noticed is that everyone has their special technique that stands out. I am always looking over somebodies shoulder trying to see what methods they have acquired through their own experience.
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I have drooled over the fine examples in the gallery section, and need a bit of advice on bent stringer forming.
How do you fabricate bent stringers? Surely not steam bend the entire lot!?
If laminated, what thickness? How do you create the laminations?
How do you form them, ie. how do you get them all to stay together without 'pinging' away from each other, as i'm sure theres quiet a bit of strain in there. Surely clamps aren't enough?
Thanks
Enthusiastic Amateur!