oak stairs by newbie.

[Turks]

Well here goes. After my last post asking for advice. I have decided to make my first proper project some oak stairs for my house as I was let down by a local tradesman (who I had decided to have do them for me) so thought why not take the plunge. Thanx to all the advice from my last post expecially to Racers who has kindly offered to come round and show me how to set up my machine. I have took notice of everything that was said. Watched hours of youtube clips. Bought a few books and dvds. I had already watched all of new yankee workshop episodes.
Back to the stairs. Does anybody think that it is too big a project to attempt for me? I know all the building regs that I need to follow and have designed the stairs. There will be 3 runs of 4 steps with 2 800x800 landings between the runs. I will be making the newels 5x5 as I want it to look chunky to match the beams etc. The newels and spindles are going to be square with chamfers on them not turned. I have just bought a trend stair jig and am looking forward to using it.
Anybody got any advice expecially where the best place to source the oak from and which is the best to buy?

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Wow thats a big job, some one did some stairs a while back, have a search. I remember there was a lot on info in the thread, it might make you change your mind!

Pete

 

[Richard T]

Hello Turks,
Have you tried looking at the list of timber merchants in the sticky thread at the top of the general woodworking page? (I expect you have, but just in case you haven't...)
If you find one that tempts you, it would be well worth posting to ask if anyone here has experience of them - good or bad- because oak is expensive stuff (unless you grow your own) and can vary alot in quality.
Eg; hedgerow oaks have more knots and tensions than oaks grown together close set. trunk wood much more stable than bough wood, English, European, American ... lots of choices and lots to ask a potential supplier - it's not cheap to get it wrong.

btw, there's an h in workshop.

 

[jeffinfrance]

good luck turks,

great to see someone diving in. pretty much every time i step in my workshop, i'm doing something i've never done.

are you intending doing a work in progress?

maybe in the projects forum, i'm bound to get someone ask me for one soon enough.

good luck,

jeff

 

[squib]

I have done a couple before and like yourself just got on with it, my advice would be to draw it out accurately as i seemed to get a little lost using different thickness stock for treads and landings and using the drawing i avoided too many cockups.As regards the oak try finding a yard that will let you select your own stock and allow plenty of time for this stage. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[joiner_sim]

It's not too big a job, just take your time and double check everything you're doing before doing it!

 

[JonnyD]

I posted a few pics last year which can be seen in this thread https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/stai ... case%20wip

Staircases are quite straightforward once you have worked out the rise and going. Marking out needs to be exact. For your oak you could try here for some good quality european or english oak http://stuartsomerscales.com/default.aspx

cheers

jon

 

[adzeman]

Hi Turks,
good luck on your new venture. Following on with JonnyD's good advice is to calculate your rise and go you need a rod. A straight piece of timber 100 x 25 or say 100 square and stick this down the stair well and mark on it the exact height of the uppermost landing.
You divide this by the number of steps you require using 7" as a guide and then calculate the rise. Mark your rod with all the rises using a pair of dividers. The go is dependant on your layout, walls doors etc and for this you need a good accurate drawing but you don't want the go to exceed much more than 9"

Then you can make your template out of plywood and say a piece of 2" x 1"

See sketch.

You then use this on your string like a set square to mark out the string and with luck it will fit in the opening and between landings.

 

[dannykaye]

there is a challenge Tommy episode with a staircase as the job that is worth tracking down. Also there are jigs to make the important cuts available.

Screwfix and B&Q both do staircase parts and kits

 

[Tim Nott]

I made an oak stair two years ago with ex 125 newels. TYhe newels were a pipper as first my table saw only does 80mm, so got the timber merchant to saw up the 125mm oak planks into 125mm square section. For some reason they interpreted this as sawing them into a rhombus section, so planing two square edges on these heave pieces was something of a challenge.
I had longer strings than you so had to angle the saw and planer (got a small workshop) so I could fire them out the door.
At the time, didn't have a tenoner (got one now ha ha) so cut the string tenons weith a router jig. Not that accurate so had an excuse to buy a Veritas shoulder plane which is absolutely gorgeous and has paid its way on various other jobs.
Stair story here http://picasaweb.google.com/Timolot/Stairs#