WANTED. Edging advise.

[garywayne]

Good morning all,

In my house the entrance hall is quite dark. Between the lounge and the front door is the stairs, but instead of having balustrades, (spindles), there are plywood panels. So I thought that I would open the panels by cutting out a diamond shape in the ply.

How do I go about finishing the edges?

ATB Gary.

 

[orangetlh]

morning gary, probably the easiest way would to buy some iron on veneer edging and stain or varnish it the same colour. would be a bit fiddly and you may need a hot air gun to melt the glue if you cant get an iron inside the diamonds.

 

[Losos]

Hi Gary - I'm sure there are several ways to do this, in my case I bought a couple of those 3 way clamps. You clamp it to the ply, put the edging on (With adhesive of course) and then tighten the third screw which bears down on the edging. I used a strip of wood to even out the pressure.

Only negative is that I did this about ten years back & I've had very little use for these clamps since then However, I'm doing a lot more w/working now so maybe they will earn their keep in the future, and if I had to buy them now they would likely be twice the price

 

[mailee]

Actually Losos, Axminster sell them and they are still not a bad price at £3.99 each. I am thinking of buying a few for an upcoming project I have.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi Gary,

Just a thought - the staircase might have spindles and the previous occupiers could have put the ply on top. If so, cutting the diamond shapes might expose the spindles. However, it might be obvious that there are no spindles, in which case, ignore this :wink:

Paul

 

[engineer one]

gary, would have to say that cutting holes in situ would be a pita
you might consider taking them down, checking the state of the
stairs too.

but i think you will find it difficult to cut diamonds which are consistent
and the correct shape in situ.

it will also be easier to fit an edging in the flat. at which time,
you might consider real wood moulding to accent the holes.
certainly would be easier to fit than iron on.

paul :wink:

 

[garywayne]

Thank you for your responses.

Today I have actually cut out the shape. The ply is 8mm thick.

What I was contemplating on doing, is putting in a central strut to add strength, and prevent little ones getting there heads stuck. (Thinking of when we sell in the near future). Then putting a 8mm wide, 5mmish deep groove in solid wood, and sticking that around the edge.

Does that make sense, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

ATB Gary.

Sorry Paul, you must have posted just after I checked the post.

Cutting out the diamond was quite easy really. Just drilled holes on all four sides, then used the jigsaw to cut out the shape. Then I used my spokeshave and chisel to finish the edge, then sanded.

ATB Gary.

 

[engineer one]

no probs.
you do need to check the minimum spacing in bannisters.

typically i think the gap should be no bigger than 100 mm, but not sure
that that might not look very busy.

how about doing a kind of japanese pattern over the gap, with maybe three or four verticals??

other wise looks like you are moving forward. although the idea
is to get more light, a pattern will add tothe style

paul :wink: