Glue Preference (and More) for Hardwood Mortised Stairs
Getting close to installation of a set of solid oak stairs I’ve been working on for about a year now.
Stringers are mortised & awaiting final cuts to match baseboards at ends. Treads, risers and stringers are pre-finished to facilitate final finishing after install.
As this is my very first set of stairs built to this technique, what kind of glue would be best used to glue the oak wedges in place underneath the oak treads?
My first choice would be traditional yellow glue (Titebond II or equivalent) rather than the newer urethane (think Gorilla, etc.) or two-part epoxy. Certainly nothing as sophisticated as Resorcinol, which I’ve used for boabuilding.
Another question: does one glue the wedges to treads & risers too or just apply glue to the wedge / stringer surface?
I expect to glue / screw risers to treads after the back edge of each tread is planed to fit; right now they run anywhere from 1/16″ to 1/4″ oversize. The top edge of each riser has a right-angle section biscuit-joined on the back to take screws up into the treads.
Pictures attached of stringers at this stage for reference & comment. If there’s something I’ve missed please add your $0.02 as I’m a newbie to this kind of thing & want to avoid ‘building in’ mistakes.
Replies
Yellow Glue
I've always used yellow glue, but regular old white glue would be fine, too. Either is stronger than the wood. Heck, hide glue is stronger than the wood. Point is, it doesn't matter much. Just use a lot of it, liberally coating the top of the wedge and the bottom of the mortice. Did I say to use a lot of glue? It should be dripping everywhere. When you're driving the wedges, make sure they don't wander out of the mortices.
And when you're gluing up stairs like yours where the stringers are in place and you'll be working underneath, wear a hat or a doo-rag if you're not a shave-head or a baldy. Don't ask how I know this.
I remember once Norm was showing how to install the treads in a setup like that. He explained how we didn't want to bunge up tread while tapping it home so he use a spare wedge to tap on. But the tread didn't want to go home, and the camera was already rolling, so he ended up hammering the bejesus out of the wedge and still bunged up the back end of the tread.
Of course, he should have stopped and checked to see what was blocking the tread and made it a "learning moment", but I suppose it's hard to think of that when the camera's rolling and there's production schedule pressure.
Also...
When you're wedging the treads and risers into place, make sure they don't back out as you drive the wedges in. That can happen.
Also...
When you're wedging the treads and risers into place, make sure they don't back out as you drive the wedges in. That can happen.