# Open staircase with hickory and wrought iron



## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

This is one of the more complicated projects I’ve tackled in my house. Open staircase, made of hickory. The treads are only 3/4” with 1 1/4” trim with returns. To achieve the newel posts and all the other resulting posts I took a 4x4 of Douglas fir. I attached that to the stair stringers, and through the subfloor to any joist or wherever I could obtain a solid attachment. The newel post I built up with some scrap 3/4 material. I than built panels for each side of the posts and attached. Made a couple caps and trim out of walnut with my router. Finished off with wrought iron spindles I got from Home Depot. The only part I did not mill myself is the railing. Found some that were finger jointed and now kicking myself for not making my own


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## 4ND3R5 (Dec 11, 2017)

That looks great!


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

Very nice ,looking, wish the first pics were right side up, it's tough on my old neck bones twisting my head that far LOL


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

Catpower said:


> Very nice ,looking, wish the first pics were right side up, it's tough on my old neck bones twisting my head that far LOL


Lol, sorry about that, I’m not sure why they loaded like that


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## samandothers (Jan 20, 2012)

Great job! Thank you for posting the pictures and describing your project. 
How was the hickory to work with? As a wood to dry it can be quite contrary and move a lot depending on how it was cut. 
What did you fasten the treads with? 
The plugs look to be square. Very nice touch, Walnut? 
What was there before this build? Was there something temporary or and existing stairway that did not trip your trigger?

Ok I'll take a breath and let your respond to some of this. Then I'll ask some more questions!


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

Hey, the hickory wasn’t to bad to work with. It has a tendency to occasionally gouge and chip while planing it. Didn’t experience much movement. I made my cabinets as well out of hickory so I had some experience with it. Love the look of hickory. All my lumber is kiln dried. 
I fastened the treads with construction adhesive and screws. Hard to see it in the pictures but each tread has 8 screws, 2 in each stringer. I used a square mortise bit for these screws to set in and than Plugged it with walnut. Gives it a little character, hides the screws, and does a nice job of securing the tread.
This was a new house so before this project I had temporary stairs made from 2x6’s. After 2 years of living with the temporary stairs this was Quite an upgrade.
Thanks for the kind words


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## JIMMIEM (Oct 12, 2014)

Excellent!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Beautiful ... X2*

Beautiful wood and beautiful workmanship. Nice blend of wood and metal. :smile2:


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## phaelax (Dec 24, 2018)

Looks very nice, the entire house does. My neck is sore from rotating to see them, but still good work. I really like the stone work too, it all compliments well.


As a side note, different programs store the rotation matrix of the image data differently, that's why images look correct on your phone but then the web browser may see a sideways orientation. Just variances in the image reader implementations.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Would a moderator please correctly orient his photos? 

Your workmanship is awesome!

If you load your photos to a PC, then in a photo editing/viewing program. You can spin them around, then save them to your PC, then upload to this site, and they will be correctly displayed. It seems that photos from phones are often displayed incorrectly if you don't do some type of alteration/save before uploading. Hope this helps you.


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## samandothers (Jan 20, 2012)

Heinlein0311
Is the floor random width boards? I like the look and in some places boards side by side match really well. What is the flooring wood? I was going to guess ash but quite a bit of color difference. 
How are your doors trimmed? they look great, looks like 2 parts on the top.
Did you make the doors?

I kept looking for the timber framing!


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Catpower said:


> Very nice ,looking, wish the first pics were right side up, it's tough on my old neck bones twisting my head that far LOL



Agree. I think they look good, but I gave up trying to see then after 2.


George


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

Let’s see if these pics load the right way


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

I edited some of the pics and I think they’re right side up this time, they’re in the thread.


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

phaelax said:


> Looks very nice, the entire house does. My neck is sore from rotating to see them, but still good work. I really like the stone work too, it all compliments well.
> 
> 
> As a side note, different programs store the rotation matrix of the image data differently, that's why images look correct on your phone but then the web browser may see a sideways orientation. Just variances in the image reader implementations.


I shrunk them down and they seem to load correctly this time. They are posted again in this thread. Thank you!


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

samandothers said:


> Heinlein0311
> Is the floor random width boards? I like the look and in some places boards side by side match really well. What is the flooring wood? I was going to guess ash but quite a bit of color difference.
> How are your doors trimmed? they look great, looks like 2 parts on the top.
> Did you make the doors?
> ...


Timber framing would be my dream! I’m not sure why I didn’t explore that option more when we were going through the planning phases, I guess because I didn’t know of any framers around here that specialized in that type of construction. Maybe the next house 😳

The flooring is random width, it is hickory as well. Long story, I had unfinished white oak down and it was fantastic until it started shrinking and gapping. The guy who milled it agreed to give my money back. It was a mess. I than went with a prefinished hickory by Chelsea flooring. It is awesome. They provide a very nice product. 
The top of the door trim is a 3 piece system. Bottom slat is 1/2” wide, top is 3/4”. I’ll include a pic.
Doors are from menards and again I was very surprised at the craftsmanship. The middle panels are solid alder, there’s some veneer on the edges but for the price they can’t be beat.


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## samandothers (Jan 20, 2012)

After I made my posting about floor possibly being Ash I thought no too much color variation. Also I am assuming you are in the west coast area and not really an Ash wood area. It is a very nice floor. Your new pictures are fantastic. 

Considering the stair case, I may have to do similar. We want to build a house and the stair case is an amazing $ consumer! All most as bad as chimneys! We have champagne taste on beer budget as the saying goes. In our existing home I replaced the 2x stairs and finished the stair case to our basement and it was not too bad. It was no where the level of finish and dramatic wood use as yours.

Interesting to hear about the doors. We don't have Menards here in NC where I can go and look at and touch and would not want to order site unseen. I may have to look around some more put more thought in interior doors. I had planned to make those too if/when we build a house. But the list of things I am looking at trying to do is getting much longer; finish work, interior doors, vanities kitchen cabinets too), basement drop ceiling and possible wall finishes..... yada yada yada. Also, my pace of work is no where near yours.

I like the door trim with the multiple pieces. The 'craftsman' style is appealing. The additional wider pieces at the top really make a difference and cause them to be eye catching. How wide are the trim pieces? I would like to mimic this type look with maybe a bit wider, can catch more dust that way! I may try walnut on the top. Lots of ideas, we'll see how many come to reality.

If you have some, would you post some pictures of your cabinets?

Told you early on I'd have lots of questions. Your taste and recent experience in your home is kinda where we are though maybe 4 years behind you. We are in process of getting plans and costs. In the second or third round.... budget trim trim trim!

Thanks again!

BTW don't aim to hijack your thread from the staircase but one thing lead to another.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

great craftsmanship, and nice and clean work! 


labor of love, right?


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

samandothers said:


> After I made my posting about floor possibly being Ash I thought no too much color variation. Also I am assuming you are in the west coast area and not really an Ash wood area. It is a very nice floor. Your new pictures are fantastic.
> 
> Considering the stair case, I may have to do similar. We want to build a house and the stair case is an amazing $ consumer! All most as bad as chimneys! We have champagne taste on beer budget as the saying goes. In our existing home I replaced the 2x stairs and finished the stair case to our basement and it was not too bad. It was no where the level of finish and dramatic wood use as yours.
> 
> ...


I’m actually located in Michigan, we have tons of ash up here but most of it is all dead now from the ash bore. 

Honestly the stairs were not that bad to do. A little time consuming making all the parts and than fitting them. I thought the handrail and posts would give me a huge fit but they didn’t. There’s lots of videos to guide you. I think overall I have $1600 into it. The hickory i got from the lumber company was classified “rustic” so it’s a little cheaper. I believe I paid $2.25 bd ft.....You mentioned chimneys, I’ll include a pic of the one I did. Next to woodwork, stonework is a lot of fun. That is one large fake chimney. It’s an electric fireplace, so it’s not a functioning chimney.

The trim around windows and doors is 3 1/2” wide and is made from alder, same as the doors.

I understand trimming the budget, sweat equity goes a long way. I did all the interior work myself except for countertops. It’s nice to be able to go higher end on material and still come in lower than it would have cost to get a lesser product and pay for labor.

Where about in NC are you looking to build?

I like answering questions, that’s how we all learn. Fire away


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

TimPa said:


> great craftsmanship, and nice and clean work!
> 
> 
> labor of love, right?


It has to be, every time I get through a larger project I tell my self that will be the last one for a while but I find myself searching for the next one within days. I get depressed if I don’t have a project going on


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## awsum55 (Aug 28, 2018)

You've created such a beautiful home, the work looks amazing.


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## samandothers (Jan 20, 2012)

WOW!
I drooled on the key board. Very nice work on both wood and stone. Y'alls (southern for you and your wife's) tastes are similar to ours.

Thanks for the update on the wood types. The doors and frames look very nice. I will need to check out ready made wooden doors. My time may be better spent elsewhere.

I really like the way the hickory turned out on the cabinets. Did you stain or just oil it? I was not expecting it to be so consistently dark. I like it, but was not the coloring I expected. Did you do the floors too? I believe I recall you purchased the floor but wonder if you installed and finished.

The cabinets look very nice. We plan to do a similar simple mission style with doweled corners. Not sure what wood we'll use yet. I like the square walnut pegs carrying over from the stair treads or vise versa. Did you build the cabinets with a rail and stile bit set and glue them or are the pegs what holds them mtogether, ore functional than decorative? I assume the panels float in the rails and stiles, did you use the space balls to hold them in the groves?

You do like stone work! The chimney looks great and is a testament to your affection for the stone work and look, especially given the style of insert. I really like your stone choice. Did you do the back splash work too?

Your finished vent hood turned out great! The sketch up help from Jay ( believe it was Jay) and your execution of the build was spot on. 

I had to share your pics with my wife as I have shared your work and the similarity to many things we hope to do. She stated we'd put you up for a while to do some stone work down here, maybe one winter or fall and you could stay warmer! We'd even buy your favorite beer! We have reduced the stone work quite a bit in the house planning as it is very expensive as you are probably aware. We have kept the chimney (class A duct inside) with stone veneer for a wood stove. In addition we kept some on the porches on the front of the house. Cut the veneer on the walkout basement foundation.

Michigan, BRRRR, that explains the white stuff outside your window in the kitchen cabinet picture. We currently reside in Charlotte NC. We plan to build in southern Va. mountains on family land. We hope to put some timber framing in the home. We are in our second round of plans to attempt to get the costs down so some of the framing went out in the first round of cuts along with reduced foot print. 

Again got away from the staircase main topic but it really caught my eye and then they wandered to the other nice wood work. Great job on both wood and stone! You obviously could do that for a living if you don't do that currently!


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## OutdoorSeeker (Jul 13, 2015)

Beautiful work and home!


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

samandothers said:


> WOW!
> I drooled on the key board. Very nice work on both wood and stone. Y'alls (southern for you and your wife's) tastes are similar to ours.
> 
> Thanks for the update on the wood types. The doors and frames look very nice. I will need to check out ready made wooden doors. My time may be better spent elsewhere.
> ...


The cabinets are stained, the reason they are darker is because I cut most of the sap wood out. Hickory is known for having a lot of white colored wood, A lot of hickory is left natural and the variances between the heart and sap wood jump out, with a stain it will diminish the contrast a bit but I still wanted to get rid of most of the sap wood to keep it a consistent darker color.

I did use a stile/rail bit set on the shaper. The walnut mortises are strictly decorative. Yes, I put the space balls on edge of panels. I think they are a wonderful product.

Yes I did the backsplash too, that was easy, that comes in panels from Home Depot. Natural slate, easy to work with.

I’d be happy to come down to NC. I’m originally from Michigan but my wife is from southwest Virginia. Clintwood to be exact. We built a house in Lexington, va in the blue ridge mountains and lived there for a few years before getting her to bite the bullet and move to Michigan. We know southern Virginia very well. I know Charlotte a little to well also. I’m a pilot for American Airlines (I’m a USAirways pilot before merging with American)...but Charlotte is obviously one of our biggest hubs, still have a training center there and do a lot of flying out of there still, at least once a week. Have lots of friends calling that area home, most live near smith mountain lake and lake Wylie ...see, we might get that stonework done after all.


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## samandothers (Jan 20, 2012)

Yes flown American Airlines/ US Air many a times out of Charlotte. Has your wife's blood thickened up for the temps? Where we'd like to build is about 4 hrs. drive east of Clintonwood over in Floyd County which is not too far from the City of Roanoke. Played quite a bit on Smith Mountain Lake near Roanoke. Been on Wylie south of Charlotte too. There is another large lake here north of Charlotte, Lake Norman. I've been there a time or two also.
One of these days when we get a house in Va. you'll need to come back and visit. Right now we stay in a camper up there. Well not in the winter pipes have a tendency to freeze. I am currently clearing some trees from the land where we want to place the house and working on a pole barn. I think this is year 10 on the pole barn! 

The hickory looks very nice with the light stain and finish work you've done. The multiple layers of wood and walnut on the posts for the stair case really makes them stand out. Great job!


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## Brian72 (Jun 10, 2018)

Beautiful work!!

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk


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## phaelax (Dec 24, 2018)

You said your doors are from menards, they look like the exact same ones I bought. I haven't finished them yet, and though I hate to paint them white because they'd look beautiful stained, all my trim in the house is white.


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## Heinlein0311 (Jan 9, 2019)

phaelax said:


> You said your doors are from menards, they look like the exact same ones I bought. I haven't finished them yet, and though I hate to paint them white because they'd look beautiful stained, all my trim in the house is white.


NOOOOOOO DONT DO IT!!!!!!! Lol, I’m jk, We stained all our doors and in the kids room they have white trim and it really isn’t a bad look


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## Echo415 (Apr 3, 2018)

I like it...I want it...good to see quality craftsmanship in Michigan.


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## EdS (Mar 21, 2013)

Impressive work, I would be very proud of that if I could do it.


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