Staircases

This stair was designed to an architect's specification and Scottish building regulations.
Most stair designs requiring 3 steps up and then a long flat walkway spanning without intermediate support would fall back on welded steel fabrication. They would then cover with wood, if they did not want to see steel. Apart from obvious lamination techniques it is very difficult to do using straight wood. We have suceeded by selection of the right bent tree.

As the stair is indoors we had to redesign the joints to minimize the effects of shrinkage and distortion.
All strings and handrails, which need to be curved as the stairs rise round the two sets of winders, are made from selected bends.
The customer has arranged for balustrading to be made from wrought iron. The riser gaps are protected by decorative ironwork too.
The slightly uneven 'adzed' surface will help hide the visual effects of drying distortion. After a final tighten all fixings will be hidden by side grain plugs