I Need Ideas For Basic Deck Rail

smitty58

I generally take my 4x4's down through the floor and attach them with either lags or carriage bolts from the outside. I am thinking of changing to attaching a notched 4x6 on the outside with timberlock's. I'm trying to decide how to best do the rails, notch the top to accept a 2x4 ,turn the 2x4 flat for the top and sideways for the bottom ,notch in both top and bottom. I want to make them nice without spending too much time on rails. I prefer to do dekorator spindles but not everyone wants them. What is your preferred method for wood spindle rails? I'm leaning towards using a 4x6 and notching in both top and bottom rails then just attaching the 2x2's on the outside. The only thing I dislike about that is not having a solid 3 1/2" top to screw the cap to.