Solid Honduras Mahogany Staircase

[worntorn]

http://www.pixilink.com/tours5/1401-kerfoot-j/

I built this staircase in 1988. My brother and I were the General contractors on the house. For us this meant we would manage the job plus do all carpentry involved.
The staircase was going to be a separate contract done by a company that specialized in staircases. A problem arose when the lady of the house was not happy with the style of staircase the company was interested in building. She wanted an open tread design with the treads overhanging the stringers (saw tooth stringers) as you see in the link.

They only worked with built up plywood stringers, and as I recall it was to be oak pywood. They insisted that the stringer must be like a built up beam with housed treads, so no tread overhang at the ends and no cutaway on the stringers.

She told them their staircase looked like a waterslide and then erupted in tears!

To settle things down I agreed to build the stair in our shop. I decided to build it in Solid Honduras Mahogany, 5 layers for the inside curve and 3 thicker plies for the outside. The treads have curved mortises that snap down tightly over the horizontal part of the stringer. I made the stringers substantial so that even with the cutaway they were over strength.

I worked about one month in the shop on this then a good week or so on site.

They sold the house a year or so ago and asked us to build another house for them, but we have kind of retired from that. She then asked if I would do the stair in the new house, but I just couldn't handle the drama, so I declined.
In any case, I prefer welding and metalwork these days!

I did like that doing that staircase though.

Glen

[jdt1986]

2 words come to mind when i see something like that done by hand : skill and pride . 2 things that separate the good and the bad, excellent work.

[geezer]

I know a pro when I see one, this proves it. Nice work on everything you do.

[worntorn]

thanks fellas.

It was my trade for years, so I guess it should be half decent or there was not much hope of getting paid!

Glen

[jameswswanson]

Nice stairs, I always liked the open back no riser look. How did you make those curved stringers?

[worntorn]

I laid out and built inner and outer curved stud walls to the required radius in my shop. I put the studs on centres that were one half the run. This meant there were two studs per tread for clamping. I laid out the run and rise on the walls, then clamped the glue coated plies of Mahogany to the studs (glue between plies only). This had to be done quickly as I used about 90 - 100 clamps per stringer and the glue had an open time of just 20 minutes.

After a few days of curing, I started in on cutting out the stringers for the treads. I left the stringers clamped to the form walls for this. This meant removal of the bottom two studs to start, cut out the run and rise for the first stair, first on one stringer then on the other, then fit and attach the tread and repeat for the next tread.
The stringer run and rise was rough cut with a recipro saw first, then finished with a 1" straight cutter on a large router. The router wouldn't get near the corners though, so that part, about 3" long on the vertical and horizontal sufaces, had to be done by hand with a sharp chisel. The exposed vertical rise edge then got sanded smooth before fitting the tread. The Treads have a curved motise cut into their bottom side so that they snap down over the curved stringer. This fit was important for appearance and to hold the entire stair from lateral sway. There really isn't much else holding it.


Glen