Hickory Stair Treads

dokuhaku

Wouldn't that be sweet? 18 stairs:$20,000

tgeliot

OK I'm not speaking from personal experience here, but from a story told to me by my big brother lo these many decades ago. Seems he was building a stairway rather like what you're doing here. For most of the pieces he created a steam chamber out of a piece of cast iron sewer pipe hooked up to some sort of boiler, but of course that bottom riser wouldn't fit in the pipe.

So he soaked the wood in water for heaven knows how long, days at least. Then he had it out in the front yard of the construction site. He poured gasoline over it, and lit it. He was swinging it back and forth, flames and gasoline flying hither and yon, when the homeowner drove up in her Volvo. Eyes as big as saucers. You gotta understand that my brother looked pretty wild on his best days, and this probably wasn't one of them. But all came out well in the end -- the wood was charred when he clamped it to the form, but eventually cleaned up nicely with a sander and the customer was well pleased. Plus she had a great story to tell her friends.

If memory serves me right this was red oak.

So have fun! Light something on fire!

Leo G

Sorry, I am still laughing at the clamp setups.

For the curved risers you just need to kerf the back and it will bend easily.

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dokuhaku

Are you making fun of my technique for gluing together the pieces for the bottom tread (i.e. 'Plankenstein')?
I will admit, it made me chuckle, too. Ultimately, I was proud of my monster.

I did indeed kerf some 1/4" hickory plywood. It required some patience, but that is one thing I have plenty of.

Leo, it is nice to get your 2¢.
Anything else I might glean from your experience with related subject matter?

dokuhaku

LOL I will leave the pyrotechnics to the pros. I wish I could have seen that!

dokuhaku

I will be applying 2 more coats of Dura-Seal over the next 2 days. After that I will get some good photos of all 18 stairs. Thanks for all the comments everyone.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Leo G

Looks nice, did you kerf the risers to get them to bend?

And most importantly, did you make any money or was this just a learning experience for you?

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genecarp

Beautiful work, thanks for sharing it with us

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dokuhaku

Yes, I needed to kerf the riser (1/4" hickory ply) for just the tight radius of that bottom step. I made a jig for the table saw in order to get the kerfs spaced evenly. It worked like a charm.
The remaining curves were slight enough that I glued and shot them in place with 23-gauge pins.

Such insight is evidence of your experience. For a job of this scale, I made very little when it is all said and done. But I am thrilled to have had the chance to do this job and am chomping at the bit for another. I could literally do this same job again in a fraction of the time it has taken to complete the first time around. I will be doing my best to ride the wave of momentum by trying to drum up some more custom work in the days to come.
Thanks for looking, Leo.

dokuhaku

Thanks for the encouragement, Gene!

Leo G

Been there, done that. Hope you get the next one. Before you forget how you did it.

All I do is custom work, and a lot of it is cabinets, but no 2 are ever the same and it is always a learning experience. The job I am working on now requires a tambour door for a vanity that will hold the hair care products for the little woman of the house. I learned a few things, that .009" multiplied by 25 (slats) is almost a 1/4". I had to take apart the tambour because I trusted myself and didn't take a bunch of measurements as I was putting it together and one side was longer than the other and when I put the door in the cabinet I had a 1/4" gap on the bottom of one side. An then there are the tracks it has to ride in. No plastic here, Oak, same as the cabinets, they came out without a hitch. Did I make money on it, probably not, but like you, I now have the knowledge to do them again with efficiency. I would do it again and I would make money.

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PrecisionFloors

Absolutely agree!

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SCFoxman

Very nice work. Absolutely love the finished look of Hickory.

Congrats on the fine work d

Mike Costello

Looks really , really nice. Excellent work

dokuhaku

Side detail, view from the top and my wife and I posing to show the scale of the steps.

Attached Thumbnails

     

jamestrd

Nice job man.....they are crafted beautifully.

dokuhaku

Thanks alot, Jamestrd. Welcome to CT.

neolitic

So it isn't you on the skate board
after all!

Really pretty work.

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Jerry T

Excellent work partner . I still want to meet your wife ...

neolitic

Now, take part of your profits
and buy some clamps!

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