Manual of Purpose-Made Woodworking Joinery

Designing, setting out and making stairs 125

riser- face equals the centre of the newel). Finally, the

nosing edges were marked at 22mm from the risers.

Note that a centre- point is normally used to plot

the nosing edges of radiating tapered steps, not the riser

faces as above; however, when a wreathed- string and a

wreathed- handrail are involved, the geometry of the

situation changes because they share a common centre

with the radiating riser faces – not the nosing edges.

Technically, when tapered nosing edges do not share

a common centre, as above, they are referred to as

The above setting out, at 6.53(a), being more
detailed than this part of the rod shown at 6.49(a),
shows the broken lines of the riser- faces emanating at
18° from a centre point initially created as the corner
of a right angle marked on the rod. From thereon,
the position of the quadrant- shaped wreathed string

• which determines the position of the two newels
  and can move towards the centre point or away from
  it – was trial- and- error tested with a compass until its
  inner face met and was slightly in excess of the 50mm
  minimum tread- width regulation. (Note that the
  actual stair has a minimum ‘going’ of 50mm, as stated
  in a previous AD K1 and, therefore, is now over-
  compensated with a minimum tread- width of 72mm).
  Having determined and marked the string’s inner
  quadrant, the outer quadrant, representing the string’s
  thickness of 40mm, was marked. This then enabled
  the 68 × 68mm square portions of the newels to be
  positioned and marked (in relation to the rule that the

FFL

FFL

1

2

(^345)
6
7
Figure 6.53 (c) The elevation and plan of the wreathed
string and its newel posts, indicating that the unglued
assembly was seated on the rod to allow the riser- faces to
be marked and taken up to plot the steps in relation to the
known riser-heights.
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
40 mm wreathed string
Figure 6.53 (a) The two- piece wreathed string, butt-
jointed to the newel posts.
Figure 6.53 (b) The wreathed string was made in two
parts for economy of material and, as shown, to minimize
the shaped work – especially the concaved shape, which
was achieved with a beech round-edge moulding plane
and a curved cabinet scraper.