The Tansu Stairs are Done

Well, I was redoing the jobs list on my office bulletin board this morning and the little clipping above was pasted onto the corner of it. I put it there a while back and forgot about it but today, it caught my eye again. So true .... Most every big project takes 'a little longer' than expected and this one was no exception. But, now we're pretty much done. Shipping to Palo Alto has been arranged and all that's left is the shaping of the wall mounted handrail and a little welding on the mounting brackets for it. We had a few 'last details; to work out this week and they are detailed below. There are two other posts to this project .... here ... and here... Great project ....

The finished cabinet ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

The boys got a little happy as they were about to put together the back cabinets ...

Tricky post moounting details and

tread to riser joinery

Shows the breakdown for shipping

and the skids with wheels we put under the base cabinets

Assembling the back cabinets ... More info on this project here ... and here ...

Railing Progress

3/4/09 One more section to go .... down the steps ... carboard template is in place .. Click the photos to enlarge them

Back in January in a post titled 'No Time For Details' I mentioned a new railing project Sam was about to start. We put the second section of it in place on Wednesday and the rest will be finished in the next week or so. It's coming out nicely, and starting to look remarkably like the sketch below...

The fourth, a long straight section is on the bench ... It needs a couple more details on the close end where it attaches to the wall ...

Proposed connection

Third section in place

sketch

First two sections

Third section in place

Rounding Up The Railings

Sam and I have recently had a number of new requests for metal railings, both indoor and outdoor. The pictures that we have on the web are scattered throughout our blog and website and I thought it best to organize at least most of them here for a good quick overview ...
Click the photos to enlarge them ...
Follow the underlkined links for more info ...

A contemporary railing with fabricated tapered posts and floor mounted post flanges.

A typical hand drawing for a railing project proposal

A typical CAD drawing for a stair and balcony railing

Plasma cut 3/8ths" thick tapered spindles

The Williams Store Railings

Railing from the CAD drawing above

One inch twisted balusters, 1 per step, with fabricated metal base collars.

The Rupert, Vermont, Town Hall

I just happened to catch these as Sam was painting over the primer on the back side... I thought it was a cool look ... We don't have a picture of the full railing installation yet ..

The JK Adams gas heater railing/guard

Straight, twist and repeat

This is an antique railing from Boyertwon, PA ...Cast elements similar to these are still readily available ..

While not like the railings above, the photos show some other metalwork Sam has completed in the last year ...

A custom steel and gold leaf window grill

A fabricated and gold leafed bench ... Wood parts by DCF

Some Custom Snowboard Event Trophies

A New Railing Project

Sam finished up his big railing project this week. no picture of the dog gate at the bottom of the stairs yet. I think it's a stunner .... The clients do too ....

Down the stairs .... The posts spacings we're unequal, which necessitated a little creative spacing and design .... Actually it makes it more interesting I think ....

8/27 ... Straight sections are in ... on to the angled stair railings

8/20/2008 ... Sam's on a roll .... He's underway on a rather extensive project he's been designing and refining with the clients over the past couple of weeks. He took the time to make an accurate CAD drawing which we were then able to use to cut an mdf assembly jig on the CNC. Also from the same drawing he was able to get accurate cut lengths and precise angles, a huge time saver when you're working on a project with this many repetitions. I believe the bucket of parts has all the short, angled, cut medallion parts for the straight sections. Ready to weld tomorrow .... We'll need to make another angled jig for the stair sections .... Click the photos to enlarge ...

The railing actually loops around a balcony but is shown stretched out straight here ... looks like 35' plus the stairs

The CAD drawing with the angles and cut lengths. We can put a drawing like this, if it''s the right type of file, into our router toolpathing program and pretty much start cutting...

The finished jig

With some of the parts

Progress 8 22 ... the four straight sections are welded ... Here are three of them
This one has the finish on it .... it also has a small design wrinkle in the lower right hand corner
1st section in the jig

Another Custom Railing

6/20/08 Sam's had a busy week. He whipped up a table/island base for a local cabinetmaker, has been working with Jim on the grill parts and finished up the tapered, trapezoidal posts and bases for a custom contemporary railing that he's working on. The 'feet', (steel plates with threaded supports) will be lagged through the treads and into the stringers and and then the posts will be bolted to them giving them a clean contemporary look. After mounting them and making patterns on Monday he'll fabricate the railing sections and weld them in place on site.... The top detail will also be confirmed after the posts are in place. There's a ladder involved somewhere to get to the skylight above but I'm not sure where that's going now ...

CAD drawing

The hollow trapezoidal posts and half post bolted to their respective plates

Photo to the right shows the post mounting brackets

The finials

The half finial against the wall

Finials on the posts, anatomy of a half post and half finial

The Williams Store Railings

Double click the pictures for better viewing

Well, the HN Williams Store expansion project is now open to the public! Sam has spent quite a bit of time on these railings, starting last fall. The items welded into the tops of each section came from the attic of the store. Williams Store has been in the same family since about 1840 and some of the stuff they found when cleaning the attic is definitely from the early days. Read on their website about the time when the horse bits and the shoe forms in the one section of the railing were part of the main business of the store. They recently redid the foundation of the whole store and created a new lower level for hardware, garden and yard tools, and clothing sales .... and, hence the railings ... Contact Sam at 802 867 0139 for custom metal railings, forged, welded or fabricated metal objects, fireplace tools, metal repairs, or to order a piece of wood and metal furniture from the 'wood and metal' section of our website. In the post below about the Walnut Slab Table you can also see Sam's handiwork on the metal parts of the base.


Manure spreader gears, elevator chain and tractor bucket teeth...

A maple syrup draw off valve....

One of the five horse bits, more manure spreader gears
and some cutter bar teeth...