Waxed Railing Installed

eligius1427 - Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 9:19pm

When it rains it pours, two long projects finished in two weeks. This is the railing that has the wax finish on it. It is by far one of the more traditional rails that I've built, but it was still a fun design challenge. The Condo where it is located is in the top floor of a large building and is part of what used to be an old private alumni social club. Because of the extensive remodeling needed, almost everything in the space is new construction, but there was an old grand stairway that they kept(the first picture). The design challenge was to keep with the basic style and design of the old rail, but build a rail that was a touch more modern and specifically designed for the client. Everything on it is forged or manipulated in some way except the twisted pickets and the small collars on them. The straight pickets have a hammered finish on them that came out great, but it doesn't really show up in these picts. I really like the wax finish, but i think i'll talk about that more in a specific thread.

waxed railing 1 existing rail

waxed railing 2

waxed railing 3

waxed railing 4

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Big big project

warren - Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 11:36pm

Jake,
Wow that was big project. Lots of railings, Looks great. I kind of like that style.

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

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Thanks Warren, at first i

eligius1427 - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 11:45am

Thanks Warren, at first i didn't think it was that big of project, but with all of the work needed on every element I quickly changed my mind. I want to thank you again for the help/advice with the wax finish, it really turned out nice.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

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Hi Jake Congratulations. It

PeterG - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 4:30am

Hi Jake

Congratulations. It looks like a big job. How do you go about curving the railing down the stairway. I guess its part of a spiral, but how do you get such a smooth regular curve?

Peter

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Thanks Peter, the curved

eligius1427 - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 11:54am

Thanks Peter, the curved portion on the landing in the middle is flat and I used my hossefeld bender with about a 10' cheater bar on the handle to form the curve in it. I'm kind of surprised i didn't destroy the pins. The hand rail on the interier that wraps around is actually done with angles instead of curves. I started off with the cad drawings and then had to tweak it to fit right, resulting in a few back and forth trips to the shop. It was by far the most time consuming to figure out. Even though I've purchased a video on how to do it, I'm still not sure how to figure out a spiral handrail. It seems pretty complicated to me.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

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Great Job! Very nice lines.

R L Sidebottom - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 8:43am

Great Job!

Very nice lines. smooth and consistent.

Rick Sidebottom
Aspiring Metal Artist

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Thanks Rick, the traditional

eligius1427 - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 11:58am

Thanks Rick, the traditional rails seem to have a lot more to do with a steady rhythm.

Hope you're feeling better.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

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Beautiful job

Rick Crawford - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 8:26pm

Hey guy- that is a fine looking job. In the first picture, looks like a spiral rail. How are the lower portion of the pickets (wrong word, can't find right one) attached to the outer side of the stairs? Any chance of a detail picture of that?

SmokyRick
Rick Crawford at Smoky Forge

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Thanks Rick, the top

eligius1427 - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 9:47pm

Thanks Rick, the top picture was the existing rail in the space that we were designing the new rail off of, so i didn't build that one. It is a spiral staircase and the pickets anchored into the wall under each step with 4 lag screws through a 4"x4" plate. It's a bit wobbly for my taste, but hey it's held up for about 80 years so what do i know.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

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Hi Jake, Nice Job! I'm

Chuck Girard - Monday, August 25, 2008 - 11:31pm

Hi Jake,
Nice Job!
I'm starting to see your true talent with Railings now.
Another great job!

Chuck

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Thanks Chuck, Lots and lots

eligius1427 - Thursday, August 28, 2008 - 12:03pm

Thanks Chuck, Lots and lots of measurements. Railings like this that have so many contact points with the stairs and walls can be a bit frustrating and stressful, but the persistence is worth it in the end. I'm not sure I would want to build them all of the time though. :)

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

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