Newel Post Fitting

I had the day off work today so was able to continue with work on the landing balustrade.  Next job is the intermediate newel post.

In theory a newel post should go in before the floor is fitted, and be bolted directly to a joist.  It's too late for that on this project, so I have opted for the alternative method.  This comprises a 12 mm diameter steel rod, with a wood screw thread at one end and an M10 (I think) bolt thread at the other.

I drilled a 10mm hole into the floor making sure I hit the oak beam that supports the landing just above the two steps.  A lock nut on the bolt allows the other end to be screwed over 5" into the floor.  A ratchet driver from the socket set sped this up, and some Vaseline to ease the transition (and reduce the horrible screeching) :





In order to get the newel base plum vertical, some adjustment had to be made to the floor with a chisel :



The newel base was previously drilled with a clearance hole (not quite big enough, so I had to ream it out slightly with a round file) and is held down with a nut & washer on the threaded end of the post.  Normally an access hole would be drilled into the side of the post in order to insert a spanner, but because the turned section of my newels are quite long, the newel base has been cut short, and this has allowed access from the top down the spigot hole :



I may still drill the access hole though, just in case it needs tightening after final fit, when the newel components are firmly glued together.

With the newel post built, it was possible to cut the handrail to the right length and join on the mid-cap :



The down-ease was added next, after cutting it part way along it's radius in order to shorten the amount of curve to match the rake of the steps, followed by a length of handrail.  Offering up the remaining horizontal rail leaves just the gap to be occupied by the up-ease :

In theory, if I cut the up-ease at the same radius point as the down ease, it should bring me back to the horizontal, but I didn't trust to this - I did it by careful measuring instead, and then cut it slightly long at first, iterating towards the final length with a second cut.  If you think about it, the consequences of getting the angles slightly wrong here will be magnified by the length of handrail projection towards the final end point. There isn't much flexibility in this timber.  I was quite surprised that I got anywhere near it !

Here is how the rail finished up.  Just the last newel and final end-cap to fit :


Of course, this is still only a dry run.  Final gluing and fixing won't be done until all the components are finished and ready.

I found this tool useful today :


The newel spigot fits quite tightly into the hole in the newel base and this rubber strap, similar to the heavy duty chain-based device used for removing car oil filters, allowed me to get a good grip on it to twist it free.  It's called a boa constrictor and I don't think I have found a use for it before.  Lurking in my toolbox all these years, waiting for it's moment of glory....