Square Mortising Hardwood Treads, Iron Baluster Installation, and Handrail Installation
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- Final video in this series. In this video we cover how to make square mortises in hardwood stair treads in order to accept iron balusters. We also cover the process of installing the iron balusters and dropping the handrail onto the balusters.
Bullet Tilting Hollow Chisel Mortiser - www.cwimachinery.com/product/b... (MUST BE A TILT MORTISER)
Dewalt Compact Stand (for mortiser) - geni.us/kZPcl (Amazon)
Stabila Digital Level - geni.us/6krL (Amazon)
Digital Angle Gauge - geni.us/ChvGf (Amazon)
Baluster Layout Compass - geni.us/IEsK (Amazon)
Starret Combination Square - geni.us/uzOBYPU (Amazon)
PLS 180 Laser - geni.us/RBFB3XA (Amazon)
1/2" Hollow Chisel Bit - geni.us/WsPUSU (Amazon)
Rubber Mallet - geni.us/m3MEf9 (Amazon)
DEWALT DW872 14-Inch Multi-Cutter Saw - geni.us/sNAy (Amazon)
Dewalt Cordless Grinder - geni.us/SgiBz (Amazon)
Festool Sander - geni.us/6Vde (Amazon)
#14 x 2" Construction Lag Screw (For Handrail/Newel Fastener) - geni.us/050x (Amazon)
(0:00) Intro/Overview
(0:41) Making Square Mortises in Hardwood Treads
(7:42) Measuring the Balusters
(9:53) Cutting the Balusters
(10:11) Installing the Balusters and Handrail
My Favorite Tools - Insider Carpentry Amazon Site - www.amazon.com/shop/insider_c...
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As always, I can't thank you enough for putting the time in to show us your tips and tricks. You're becoming the Larry Haun of trim carpentry!!
This guy should have at least a million subscribers....such excellent work!!
Looks great!!! You can always tell a pro by how easy they make it look...
Bro as a trim carpenter doing and learning these exact same things, I for 1) cant thank you enough my dude. i wish i could be there and learn from you directly. and 2) think that you're absolutely a beast.
Glad to help my friend.
@@InsiderCarpentry I agree with Robert. These videos are awesome. You are very good at what you do. I've done trim for years and recently started installing stairs... man, you're not kidding about doing everything in the right order and making sure that everything is perfect. Otherwise it turns into a nightmare. I've had a couple jobs that I wasted a good amount of time and materials because of one or two mistakes that ended up screwing up everything. The trick to stairs is to take your time to do it right, following the proper steps in the right order, and making sure everything is precise. Your speed square and bubble level need to be your best friend when you're doing stairs. Also, Tight Bond makes a construction adhesive that works great for stairs (for balusters and for securing end caps, wall caps, treads, risers, and shoe base to the framing of both the rake sections and floor level sections). Typically the posts I install are solid ( not usually the hollow Newel posts) so I use post bolts and then cover the holes with a boot wrap or have to plug em or I drill a half inch pilot hole about 3/4's the way through the post and then 1/4" hole the rest of the way through the post and then a 3/16" holes through the riser and cinch it up with 3" screws through the side towards the bottom of the post and into the framing riser and use just a dab of construction adhesive on the bottom of the post and the side that's flush against the riser (if all that makes sense). Anyway, great work brother. I've learned a ton from your videos already. God bless.
Thank you so much for this video. It was exactly what we needed to move this project forward.
Another awesome video. That’s why they call it “ Worrying the rail”. Thx again man!
I put in rail and balusters early this week what a pain in the ass and the one I did was a straight run and round balusters I could not imagine doing what you did with square balusters and turns I know people wrote great video or great job but thats a understatement that is so very impressive of a job
Man you are one talented finish carpenter! Thanks for the videos!
Absolutely great tutorial buddy, made it look to easy
Such great tips! Re mortising treads: I found it very difficult to line up the ½" mortiser chisel perfectly on the ½" hole. I switched to a 7/16 forstner bit which enabled me to look down through the top of the mortise chisel and align it perfectly centered. I then cleaned up the mortise with a "pig sticker" mortise chisel. I also bought the mortiser chisel through your link and it needed quite a lot of honing (of the flat sides) to get it sharp, once I did that it was a lot easier to mortise my oak treads. Thanks again for all your great videos!
Excellent video and staircase!
nice job. looks really clean
I love your video's Spencer.
Excellent video for staircase installation
amazing work, as usual
I just finished my iron baluster handrail thanks to guidance from this video. It turned out pretty nice. As in the video we intended to NOT have shoes but instead simply square mortises in the treads. However when we did a dry run on a scrap board we didn't like how it looked. We used 3/4" balusters but they weren't a full 3/4" and thus fit a little bit loose in the square mortises. It seemed to us like the extra space was a great place for dust to collect and be difficult to remove. In the end we used shoes, and we got the shoes that had set screws because then we could use the shoe to hold the baluster up fully seated into the handrail. Why did we use 3/4" ?? Because then we could have only 2 balusters per tread since our rise/run is 7/10 and max gap between balusters on a flight of stairs is 4-3/8" (and only 4" on a balcony or landing).
Awesome as always!
High quality instruction from the real professional carpenter. Thank you for your dedication to the trade.
Believe it or not I am a 30+ yr floorman looking to add stair, handrail and baluster install to my skill set.
Your videos are my go to source for expert guidance.
Thanks 👍
@@InsiderCarpentry how high you set the handrail on the staircase and how high on the hallway THX
Please do more handrail videos.....
With more detail on the posts
Love your videos , thanks for sharing. 🙏🏼
Ones more Pro Tip. You can eliminate a lot of the guess work around lining up the hollow chisel but using a the chisel that it came with as a centering stud. I cut off the shaft so that I don't have to take it out to hammer the chisel home but later decided that I was wanted something that fit better with zero slop so I turned a hard maple dowel that fits perfectly into the chisel hollow. The dowel fits perfectly into holes in the tread. This set up makes vertical alignment easier and centers the hollow chisel perfectly every time. But you're unlikely to have the resources on the job to make this tooling so do it in the shop before hand and have it ready to go when an iron ballasters job comes alone,,, lining up the chisel every time is tedious and can be frustrating. Over the fifty plus years of my carpentry career I learned to take the time to built jigs and tooling to ease and simplify these frustrating tasks. Since I aways have an apprentice in training with me now I turn these jobs over to her,,, after giving her complete instruction similar to how you demonstrate in the video since I want her to be able to do it with out the centering stud and understand the importance and effects of the alignment to the final product we are building. But by using the centering stud I achieve a modicum of piece of mind that I can walk away and get started on the next task knowing she will be able to execute to a high level of accuracy, approaching the level I expect from myself.
If you're in the businesses for the long run you will use that jig again and probably more than once. Good jigs like good tools pay for themselves time and time again.
I will definitely have to make that! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Such a great idea
I custom order precut and sized square balusters where the tops and bottoms are circular. They grant you the exact depth you need for your forstner bit, taking the guess work out for a consistent depth, while simultaneously negating the necessity to chisel out a square hole in the treads.
I've seen some people not use adhesive in railings and the treads. Lack of knowledge. Love that loctite pl 3x stronger adhesive!
Thanks you for the great video .
Very nice work !!!
Great job!!!
Great video, thank you for producing this. You mention this is the final video in a series. Can you share the preceding videos in the comments section? Thank you!
Absolute woodworking LEGEND.
Learn something every time I watch.
Time for a new van tour 👍👍👍
Thx4 vid! As always clear and concise. Had to chuckle when you cut one too long. Been there done that over the years. Can put a little sweat on your brow!!😊
There's a faster way to determine the height of each spindle and batch cut them.
Rise divided by number of spindles on the tread will = x. First spindle is usually 36" in most places, 2nd spindle is 36"+x, third spindle is 36+(2 times x). This is not limited to 3 per tread, I just chose that as an example. Just divide the rise and keep adding
Shown a different way; Rise = 7.5" , 3 spindles per tread. 7.5/3=2.5". first spindle=36", 2nd spindle= 36"+2.5", third spindle= 36"+2.5"+2.5".
Or; Rise = 8", 4 spindles per tread. 8"/4=2". First spindle 36", 2nd spindle: 36"+2", 2nd spindle 36"+2"+2", 3rd; 36+2+2+2, 4th; 36+2+2+2+2.
Sometimes this doesn't work if you have unequal sized spindles in a pattern or some sort of fancy iron scroll causing you to shift it around to meet building code, then you're better off doing a layout on the floor and using the layout jig.
Also, plumb your spindle locations while the rail is clamped to or resting on the treads, this eliminates sag/crown. Especially when doing a curve+twist rail when the nice straight level is useless.
Nice work. Consider going to a machine shop and have them make a center guide locator pin for your hollow chisel. No location other than squaring up would be necessary.
I enjoyed that very much thank you
Very nice!💜
LOVE the precision and details. Very well explained and beautiful work! Thank you.
The only part missed explaining is the angle of the upper part, how did you figure the angle and drilled accordingly?
Another good video. Keep up the good work. If you consistently have a larger mortise than you want when you age hand driving the mortise chisel, you can reduce its size by simply grinding the four sides down a few thousandths. You can easily do this on a stationary disk sander or even with your belt sander if you mount it upside down.
I've definitely been considering that. I'd like them tighter in the tread but the trade off is that then it makes it harder to get the handrail on. I did get a type of baluster that were super tight and really hard to get the handrail on, so that makes me weary of getting aggressive on reducing the size.
@@InsiderCarpentry have two, one reduced in size for the bottom and one standard size for the top
Do you have a video or tips on how you drilled the handrail? Did you make a jig for the proper angle? or lay it on the stairs and drill straight down? Thanks for your videos, I’ve learned a lot and saved a lot of money!
No, they never seem to show the most difficult parts
Thanks for these staircase videos. Your method of measuring the spacing of balusters really worked on my horizontal balcony! I had watched many others and either the numbers were wrong or you needed a main frame computer to calculate! I bought the little digital angle level you used and I'm wondering if this is the same little bubble level you have attached to your drIll? If not, it's not on your list. Lastly, how did you transfer the measurements on the treads to the underside of the handrail .. is there a video ? Again, thanks so much for these relaxed, carefully explained tutorials and not filling the background with head splitting loud heavy metal music.l!
Awesome Brother
Awsome info
Wow, can't believe how helpful this and the rest of your series is going to be for me, doing Newels and iron balusters this at my house, already did the stairs. FYI, your product links are out of date in some cases. The mortiser links to a $20k CNC (I couldn't find a mortiser at the CWI site), and the hollow chisel bit is unavailable (maybe temp). Just want to give you the referral bonus when I buy stuff!.
I lived that nightmare, as I completed my stairway last weekend. But it does look awesome.
I would hire you anytime, you do great work!
Great video as always. You really do awesome work.
10:02 all I can say is "run Forrest run!" Lol
Damn that clamp method really blew my mind
This is exactly what I have been searching for! Great info clearly explained. Just wondering if you have a video showing how you drilled and chiselled the holes on the underside of the handrails ... they would have to be drilled at an angle and I'd love to know how you did that! Also, I was looking for your video on how you used certain screws to attach handrails ... is that still in the works? Thanks again for your generosity and hard work providing these videos.
Yes, that was the previous video. See my channel video feed.
My god your good at what you do. 👍
You're *
amazing
That bubble 🤯
Did I miss where you mortise the handrail for the balusters? How did you maintain the angle (slope) of the stair run when drilling the rail? A set of stairs I'm working on has a slope of 36 degrees so I'm trying to figure out how to drill the rail at a 36 degree angle. Thanks for all you've done w/ trim carpentry videos. They've been a god send in giving me some confidence in the path to follow in getting these stairs done. Unfortunately, the set I'm working with are not post to post but over the top style handrailing.
I just installed a rail much like your lower section in this video. If you grab a hold of the center of the rail, half way up the stairs, you can wobble it pretty significantly to and from your hip. I don't know where I went wrong or what I could do to strengthen this.
Dinosaur rail guy here... I've found those square chisels to be a giant pain, I take a 5/8 chisel and grind it down to a shy 9/16 then chisel both sides of the hole perpendicular to the grain. If you rock the chisel toward the center of the hole once it is seated, it will clear out the material on the parallel-grain sides of the hole so you don't have to chisel them. With a little practice, it becomes way quicker not to mention, you're not pounding balusters as hard and potentially filling the hole with wood because the hole is too small.
Thank you again sir!! Keep them coming!
Dude you are sooo far ahead of me I can’t even tackle what your doing..no way
Yes thank you!!!!
I made a jig for that to keep it square and plum from the end of tread
Suggestion to line up chisel centered and plumb. Needs a lathe or a friend with a lathe. Take a ½" steel rod longer than the chisel by a couple inches. Put it in the lathe supported accurately by the tailstock. Only grip in the chuck a little less than as deep as is the drilled holes. Turn down the rod from the chuck to the end, to a diameter that will have a sliding fit inside the chisel. Remove from lathe, insert into the chisel, mark the length. Remove from chisel, cut it to about ¾" shorter than the mark.
Now put your new alignment tool in the hole, slide the chisel over it and it should line up perfectly. The end of the tool must not protrude above the chisel.
I have a question or two about the iron baluster installation. This is my first time, and I just installed wood railings for two flights on my own. It was extremely tedious and a learning process, but the most annoying aspect is the metal connectors from rail ends to the box newels. I plan to install hollow iron balusters next. After marking holes for baluster insertion points top and bottom, must I disconnect the railings and remove before installing the iron balusters? Or may I keep railings as they are and drill deeper top holes so balusters can slide up into sockets then back down as the bottom of baluster fits into the bottom hole? I see a disadvantage that the latter approach would preclude the baluster from providing support for the railing. I'm not sure how important that is because I believe that the wood railings and wood newels are very strong. How about advice for avoiding rattling or movement of iron baluster after installation?
Great video! Do you have a video of how you built your post sleeves? Or did you purchase the sleeves?
Very nicely done! You had me laughing at "will turn into a living nightmare".
I am taking on the task of replacing my handrails and will be installing square metal balusters. How hard could it be, said I 5 weeks ago! It's been a living nightmare, as Spencer says. Not a new house, everything is crooked. But I'm hoping that with Spencer's great tips and introduction to new tools lime the chisel, it will be a success or maybe it will continue to be a living nightmare! haha
Ganda
what kind of poplar do you use? ive never seen it like that before
What would you suggest if I don't have a tilting mortiser for the handrail holes? Spade bit with some heavy duty PL?
I have a stair project that I need to make square hole under the handrail, the balusters top is a 1/2inch square. I see you did the square hole on the handrail, did you use a drill press for that or other method. Expecting your reply. Thank you
just curious but what is the cost of installing this stair rail with the iron balusters? just the hand railing part? is it usually more expensive due to the mortising? what kind of cost per linear foot should one expect for this
Have you tried using Milescraft drill guide for holes?
Dude at the lumberyard where I bought balusters suggested using clear silicone instead of epoxy.
Anyone use the silicone and does it work well?
Thx
Where do you get your,….I don’t know if it’s stair nosing or shoe rail for the flat/balcony balusters to be the same width as your newels? I can only find 3” stair nosing around here. Thank you for the wonderful videos.
How did you drill the holes in the bottom of the hand rail on the slope after you marked them with the laser?
You are using abrasive chop saw? Thank you!
Hi Spencer! How long does it take you to install a complete system like this? Assuming all goes well and no complications? Thank you very much appreciate it!
Hi Spancer, I have watched all most your video, your workmanship are excellence.
Did you installed the timber staircase by yourself from start to finish or you need someone to help you ?
All solo. I work alone.
Can you tell me why some of the handrail has that angled u shape piece on the end? Design choice?
How do you figure out what angle to drill the holes on the underside of the hand rails
Fir the first time I missed you be more clear about what exactly you used to make this project. Please put the link of the right bits you use for we buy.
I've seen some metric hollow mortising chisels that are sized at 12.5 mm. Just a bit under 1/2". Maybe they'd fit the undersized baluster tubing better.
How did you cut holes in the bottom of the handrail? Did I miss that part?
He used a jig along with his mortise machine.
Keep making long videos.
You can always take sections out later as another video addressing parts of a build
Hello, I couldn’t find the video about he balcony, can you share the link please
Thanks
I can't find the video where you make/cut the hand rail. Did you make a video of that?
Do you cut the iron rods indoor or outdoor?
There have been a couple times when installing wrought iron ballasters that were ill fitting and floppy that I decided I needed to stabilize them in the vertical position. Although it took a few extra minutes it was well worth the effort. I installed a ledger clamped to the outsider of the newell posts parallel with the handrail about halfway up the ballasters. I then installed a stand off perpendicular to the ledger, offset so that it lined up with the outside face of the ballasters. In my case I made them with ripped and cut offs of OSB scrap. But any 1x will do. I then put up a line of two sided carpet layers tape,,, which I always carry cause it so darn handy. I install the ballasters and push them into the tape they usually stands straight and tru,,, there are a couple of things that can cause the ballasters to stand wonky but the tape has some give so individual units can be pushed around.. it probably adds a half hour to the total time but there valued it's that it completely eliminates the frustration of going back and forth lining up the ballasters and the handrail hole,, so for me the elimination of that frustration is well worth the extra work,,, you can reuse the one you made on successive runs or make enough to install on the full length of the hand rail suit yourself,,,, I now build it into the work flow for any job that comes along with iron and since it's part of the plan have reduced the fab time for the standoff, ledger and installation of both in half. Pro Tip with two sided carpet tape,,, keep it some place where it doesn't get hot, making the second side of the adhesive want to stick to the protective peel off plastic layer. Use two sided carpet tape instead of hot glue or other temporary fixings to stick patterns, temp jigs and such, it's faster and the tape is made too stick to dissimilar materials. I was introduced to this trick working Trade Show set up in Vegas,, were everything has to look good, stay in place but be able to come apart easily,,, the crews use it by the case, the difference is that carpet seaming tape is stronger than garden variety two sided tape and the adhesive has a lot of "grab"
What is the length of the three iron pillars after cutting, and how long is the iron pillar in the attic?Looking forward to your reply
very clean and sensitive .i like it but i would like to ask for understanding for installation how many days needs and how much does it take . i am carpenter but don't have any idea about wage please help me
Well I'm wondering how you get the hight of the newelpost on a open stair way using a post in the middle of the stairs and on the landing
This is probably a dumb question. Do you fill both the top & bottom holes with adhesive before installing the balusters?
Hi, first of all great work very tidy I must say, secondly can you show or tell me how you drilled the holes for the handrail because I’m sure that’s tougher than into the thread? Thank you
I posted that in a couple other videos around the same time this one was published. See my channel feed. I used a tilt mortiser.
Spencer, have you done a video on installing wood door and frames? If not, can you.
Keep up the great work
I definitely hope to cover doors at some point, but I haven't yet.
@@InsiderCarpentry , that would be awesome, would like to see how you do it, you really do great work
How did you get the handrail drilled to accept balusters? Correct angle....?
I cut butte loads of spacer blocks same thickness as balusters then using 2 straight boards I clamp balusters after installing in plate then handrail is a whole lot easier to install
Hi I would like to know how much cost that stairway .
Spencer, I was wondering why you did not use your Laser measure to calculate the length between the rails and threads?
I do it both ways. The laser definitely works also.
Have you tried hammering in the square hole with a shorter scrap piece of the baluster instead of the square chisel so that it's the exact size of the baluster?
I have have but I have seen other guys do that. I will have to try it sometime.
I've been building my entire life and have never seen this molding throughout this house it looks like some kind of poplar vineer ?
I've done quite a few wrought iron balustrades and the manufacturer always recommended 2 part epoxy, which as you can imagine doing stairs by yourself , ain't easy. 🤣 My question is : have you ever had any issues using the PL for anchoring the balusters?
No issues. Manufacturers are always looking to cover themselves. PL has worked just fine for me as well as a lot of other carpenters I know. 👍
I would like how to divide with pickets of 1.1/4
maybe you mentioned it maybe you didnt, why was there a step up(called a goose neckhere in uk) at the top of the first two sections of handrail, does the hollow portion of the newel only go down so far?
Because it creates a level transition, which means I can terminate the handrail into the newel with a single bevel cut, instead of a compound bevel cut. Without the gooseneck the handrail would have to have a compound cut going into the newel which is tedious and doesn't look very good. Good question.
What glue/epoxy do you use?
What's the reason for putting in the handrail in after the balusters instead of putting in the handrail first and then sliding the balusters up into the hole and then dropping it down into bottom hole?
You can do that with round holes in the handrail but it doesn’t work with a tight square mortise.
Could you please explain how do you attach handrail to posts ?
You said in the video but it is hard to realize what you are referring to withouth pictures.
Great work man. Just wondering who does the staining and finishing once things are installed? I'm assuming its the painters but my old man always tells me to never assume.
"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups." Wise counsel. Correct, the painter does all the painting and staining.
@@InsiderCarpentry roger that. Thanks man again great job.
How did you determine where to drill the holes in the treads and bottom of the railing? Direct me to that video please.