| Custom Diamond Willow Railing |
| In June of 2008, a gentleman called me and asked if I could make a stairway railing out of some diamond willow he had collected. I told him that that sounded easy enough, so we agreed to meet and look over the wood. Little did I know what incredible pieces he had! The first photo, left, is the rough pieces of railing that we started with. Incredibly, the two right-hand rails were both curved perfectly to form to the curve of the stairway he was putting the railing on. The main post(top right) was a thing of beauty- over 8 feet tall, and riddled with almost 100 small-to-large diamonds! After about 14 hours of scraping and sanding, it looked like it does in the photo. |
| Once the pieces were cut to size, the real challenge began- to make them fit the stairway. With some careful hole drilling and tenon cutting, we got to this stage- ready to drill for the balusters. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the willow balusters, but they were as ornate and varied as the main post was. The tops of these posts were cut so that they looked like they were growing into the ceiling, and the bottoms were notched onto the edge of the steps. With screws into both ends, they became extremely sturdy. Now it was on to the drilling and tenoning. |
| With the balusters cleaned and sanded, the drilling of holes and tapering of the ends went fairly quickly. It took a couple of hours to get them all the right lengths- no two were the same- and fit them into their spots. As it is shown here, the railing is holding itself together with friction. Now it's time for the glue and screws, and the rail is complete. A few coats of clear spar urethane, and it will shine with an amber glow for years! Thanks to Mr. Bothwell for letting me use these pictures of his home. |