Project Information
I was in the process of laying new Santos Mahogany flooring down and it was obvious that the whole pink terrazzo - wrought Iron - Berber carpet staircase thing had to go. With no budget to tackle this in a traditional sense I decided to "just start" with materials I had available and see where this takes me, I had no plan at this point on paper or in my head. I striped the old stairs down to the floorboards and topped that with a new Walnut façade. I saw this as an opportunity to use some of the few hundred pieces cherry that have sitting out back. These pieces are very rough cut approximately 3 ½" x 1 ½" on a side and in random lengths. I used the cherry to make the side of the staircase paneled look by fabricating long straight slats with rounded edges assembled piece by piece to the side of the staircase. I also used the cherry for the edge cap details on the stairs themselves. The balusters and the starting newel are also made from the cherry. The newel was made from 7 pieces of the cherry glued together into a piece large enough to machine all the details. I had a couple of 3" x 10" x 8' pieces of canary wood lying around that I decided to use for the banister. I don't have access to a steam press to make the bends in the banister or for the like bends in the cherry stair cap details. Instead I jigged the bends in place and the cut the wood into .175 thick strips which allowed me to bend them while gluing each layer together, I used a boatload of c-clamps but it worked out well. When the glue dried and I finished dressed the bent pieces, you can't tell they were fabricated that way. In the end it worked out well and cost me little since I had all the materials.
