March 1, 20179 yr Popular Post To answer a few questions that have been asked to me in the past, yes I design and build stairs for a living. The jig for Bending curved stringers was not made specifically for my stairs, it is adjustable for any size radius up to 10' and has been used for 100's of stairs. Here is a picture of the jig used for routing out the stringers and a close up of how the treads and risers get wedged into them, the router bit is called a stair bit, basically a dove tail bit.The jig is adjustable by loosening to two bolts shown with the pencils sticking up, it needs to be adjusted for each stair, do to the different run and rise. A picture of the under side of my stairs, a small bead of glue is applied to the bottom of the riser, the riser is then stapled the the back side of the tread then wedged. The treads get put in and wedged first, then the risers. Glue blocks are then applied to top of the riser, and the under side of the tread. Think about this, in order for the tread to bend, 8" of riser under the tread must bend, and 8"of riser over the tread must bend, not going to happen, that's the reason a center stringer is not needed. I'm currently setting the newel and putting in the curved rail, more episodes to follow.also a pic of the jig used for cutting the wedges, the board is flipped end for end after each cut. Edited December 7, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston tags added
March 1, 20179 yr WOW! Thanks for the explanation! Very interesting process. I never realized about the tapers and wedges. That's really a cool router jig.
March 1, 20179 yr Author Forgot to mention, glue is applied to the 2 sides of the wedges before hammering them home, anyone ever wants to tear this stair out, bring a chain saw!
March 1, 20179 yr Great build, makes a solid stair for sure, no problem with those passing inspection, thanks for the post showing how you did it. Herb
March 7, 20179 yr Missed this step of the series...very cool...Awesome jig...If you can spare the time, this would be a great Blog series here Kenny. I'm sure I'll never create anything this spectacular, but others down the road might benefit from this project...What's your next project gonna' be? I can't wait to see it! THANKS!!
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.