Manual of Purpose-Made Woodworking Joinery

130 Designing and making stairs to current building regulations

rectangular shapes of the handrail to be drawn at each

end. However, note that the centre of the twisted

handrail has to be altered to suit the stair’s plumb

bevel.

When marked on both faces, as illustrated, the

wreath was fixed firmly to a wedge- shaped block that

had been made to the stair- pitch angle; (countersunk

screw- holes had been drilled in the block’s underside,

so that two fixings could be made to the underside of

the wreath). With the wreath now positioned in its

correct vertical plane, the marked outer- edges were cut

by pivoting the wide wedge- shaped block very care-

fully around the narrow bandsaw.

After cleaning up the edges with spokeshave

planes, the so- called falling lines (helixes) were pen-

cilled in on each side – to depict the top and bottom

curvature of the wreath – and these twisting shapes

were removed with a traditional bow saw. This is a

challenging task that requires constant observation on

the two separated and twisting lines. Again, the sawn

surfaces were cleaned up with spokeshaves. Finally,

when satisfied with the basic rectangular shaped

wreath (and not before), finger- gauged pencil lines are

made and the actual handrail shape is applied – again

with the aid of spokeshaves and cabinet scrapers, etc.

thereby lengthened. Then the wreath is cut carefully
to the double- curvature shape, ideally on a narrow
bandsaw machine and its sides are planed to a fair
finish with spokeshaves and/or a sanding bobbin and
tabled disc- sander.
Next, the two tangent lines (previously trans-
ferred from the face mould) are squared down and
marked on the ends of the wreath, as illustrated
in Figure 6.59. These small crosses pinpoint the
centre-lines of the level handrail at the narrow end
and the twisted handrail at the wreath’s wide end.
And they control the pencilled outline of the plain,

Wedge-shaped

cutting block

Wreath in position on block,

for vertical sawing of outer edge.

Figure 6.60 (a) Wreath in position on block,for vertical
sawing of outer edge

Wedge-shaped

cutting block

Figure 6.60 (b) Wreath upside down on block, for verti-

cal sawing of inner edge

Figure 6.59 The handrail wreath being marked on its top
and bottom faces with the face- mould template.