This is a little hickory stairway that I have been installing. It is freestanding and has a plastered belly underneath. I have hickory spindles to install along with all the balcony railing.
Excuse the mess I inherited when I took these pictures.
Stan……who is on the ground climbing.
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As usual, awesome work and thanks for sharing
The scotia(sp?) mould under the treads would be difficult for me to get right(tight
joint) as those aren't 45 degree cuts are they? How do you figure them or do you
use something like a bosch angle finder?
Butch: The risers on this stairway are all perpendicular to inside and outside stringers...making the miter a typical 45 degree cut.
However...the trick is cutting the curved scotia at its 45 degree cut.
What I do is take a short piece of scotia..and scribe parallel to the riser face...and parallel to the stringer arc. Where these two scribe marks cross is the exact outside miter intersection at the top of the scotia. Just hold your scotia to be cut slightly past the cross marks...and mark on the bottom right where the riser meets the stringer. Cut your miter right through these marks and repeat this with the other scotia to be mitered. This will get you real close.
How is the beam attached to the post that holds up the landing?
Jon Blakemore
Jon: There is a joint right at the bottom of the second level. The 2 x 10 header is bearing on the bottom post/
How many peole do you have working with you Stan .. you sure seem to crank these beauties out !
Joe: Just myself...and my wife comes out part time..maybe a day a week at the most. I grab one guy on the day I install the stairway...other than that..I am solo.
I am keeping my business small by choice. I pretty much get to pick and choose the projects I take on. It is a very weird occupation and I for the life of me would have never guessed that I would have went from planting corn and soybeans to building stairways.
You don't make stairs, Stan, it's art. Stan the stair building man is pure artist. They are nice to look at. Now your photos up in the air? I can pass them suckers by...
Always a pleasure admiring your work.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Great work Stan! Do you make your own railings too?
Mike
Thanks Mark....I usually buy bending rail...but on occasion I have shaped my own. This particular hickory was bending rail.
Cool Stan. You don't make your wife load those stairs on the trailer do you?<G>
Really, how do you get them loaded and unloaded and in place? Where do you get the bodies? Don't worry, we can fix that later!
bucksnort: I just have a list of local mules that I call that can drop their pitchforks and come a running. I throw a $20 check to each one...takes them ten minutes plus their time to travel to the shop. Everybody is happy.
Very nice. Do you often use hickory? I'm a longtime fan which generally surprises guests, particularly woodworkers. Around here, common thought is that it's a major challenge to work with. Obviously doesn't bother me.
The finish will be toned? You've used heart and sap wood apparently indiscriminately. I often use the high contrast for effect. Less distinctive after a few years, of course.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
stan.... nice as usual..
can you get a long ( wide ) view of the stairs in the room.. that glass wall ( window wall ) looks like a gorgeous backdrop for your stair..
2d request... are you comming to RhodeFest ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike: When the foyer is more photogenic and my stairway is all done...then I will take some far off pictures. I wont be coming to Rhodefest....I usually stay put in the summer and take little vacations other times of the year. Would like to meet you guys though.
Tom, I've trimmed out a handful of houses in hickry. Seems like the light and dark woods are what you get. The flooring's all mixed, the cabinets are too, and the trim we get certainly is. I think it's part of the hickry charm.
I've found different batches to be easier to work than others, not sure why. Some of it blows up, some of it mills like butter. I'm assuming it has something to do with when it's cut, &/or how it's dried. Got any ideas?
Personally, I thought Stan's use was very discriminant, even pattern-like. Don't worry, we can fix that later!
>> ... different batches to be easier to work than others, not sure why.... Got any ideas?
Probably different species. IIRC, I've seen in FWW or FHB that a couple species of hickory as well as pecan are all sold under the same name.
Pretty sure Hickry & Pecan are in the same family...gotta go get a couple of pork loins off the grill, toasting on the offcuts of the last hickry/pecan job, the best part of working with it/them<G> Don't worry, we can fix that later!
>> Pretty sure Hickry & Pecan are in the same family...
Yes they are, same genus even, Carya. But that doesn't mean different species within the genus don't have different working characteristics. Red oak and live oak are both Quercus, but their woods are different. Sugar maple and box elder are both Acer, but their woods are different.
You tryin' to get me to grill with maple & elder? Don't worry, we can fix that later!
Now there's a thought. I've heard of hickory smoked this and that, and maple syrup flavored this and that, but I've never heard of anything being maple smoked.
Maple's ok for smoking, but hickry w/ maple syrup is the best, no foolin' Don't worry, we can fix that later!
I've found different batches to be easier to work than others, not sure why. Some of it blows up, some of it mills like butter. I'm assuming it has something to do with when it's cut, &/or how it's dried. Got any ideas?
Uncle Dunc is correct. When I lived in Denver, pecan came out of the same bin. And there is a difference between different hickories. But the largest difference that I can determine is how fast it was dried.
When I was running a cabinet shop I bought all I could from a solar kiln. Took them longer to dry than the propane ones, and the wood was decidedly easier to work. No idea what you have available, but if you ever get accustomed to air dried, you won't want to go back. Even if a kiln finish is used, the wood is amazing better. This is independent of species, hickories, oaks, ash, walnut, cherry... Particularly if you use hand tools.
I've gotta get a camera. The large 10 drawer dresser I recently did has something a bit different in the grain of the fronts, hickory, that is. I don't do architectural pieces as a rule, and the guy who taught me furniture-making stressed using heartwood/sapwood a design element. It doesn't have to be accidental.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Never got taught furniture making, must be why I don't understand the accidental oriention reference. Usually just try to put stuff together 'til it looks nice. I like sapwood. In walnut and cherry, too, and purposefully use it. And, not all light hickory is sapwood, pretty amazing the difference from one end of a board to the other, sometimes. It's just wood, lighten up <G> Don't worry, we can fix that later!
Tom: I used pecan on a stairway 3 years ago. It is very similar to hickory...except if you reall study it close...you will see little darker colored dots like periods of a sentence randomly scattered throughout. I always said it looked like hickory with small freckles.
As far as the variation in the wood....I let it fall together randomly.
Tom: I use hickory occasionally. I am getting ready to start building a two story stacked hickory spiral that will be an interesting challenge.