Our contractor said that we needed a handrail to the front door to pass inspection and I thought this would be a good opportunity to for me to utilize what I have learned so far on this blacksmithing journey.  I am still fairly new to blacksmithing, so this is not a perfect project, but I am very proud of the results.

I used the new front door we purchased as the inspiration for the design.  it has some “S” curve designs that the rail should complement.

From this I did a basic sketch to figure out how much material I needed to purchase.

For one railing (I will make the match for the other side later…preferably when the weather gets warmer) I needed 20 ft. of 1 inch square for the vertical posts to support the rail, 30 ft. of ½ inch round for the hand rail itself, and 30 ft. of 3/8 inch round for the “S” pickets (I already had enough ½ inch square for the bottom channel).  I drove over to Tacoma Steel and purchased double this so I had enough for both sides.  Their prices were reasonable; for those interested, the 1 inch square (hot rolled) cost $2.27 per foot, the ½ inch round was $1.07 per foot and the 3/8 inch round was oddly enough more expensive at $1.33 per foot.

The first order of business was to make the “S” pickets to makes sure they matched up with the grill on the door.  I made a jig to ensure the dimensions of the curve were accurate and consistent.  3/8” round stock was cut to length, each end was tapered then bent around the jig.  The result was a shape complementary to the door grill.

I made 6 of these “S” pickets for the left rail, but in the end I only needed 5 due to where I could mount the posts on the concrete steps, which altered my design during assembly.

The next part was the construction of the top handrail.  I wanted this to be a 10 foot long section of 3 pieces of ½” round twisted together, which presented a challenge to me with limited equipment.   My solution was to attach some cement board to the outside of my out-building so I don’t burn it down and mount a drill press vice vertically on the cement board to clamp one end of the 3-piece section in.  This was mounted at the same height as my NC Tool Whisper Momma forge, that happens to have pass-through windows on each end on a tool cart, so I can thread the piece through, heat a section, twist it, then move the forge down and repeat a little at a time.  This had the desired effect.  The other challenge was making two 90 degree and one 30 degree bends, which required a similar technique, then quick removal and bend.  There was a bit of cursing during this process…

After this came the vertical posts.  I pre-drilled ½” holes for the cement anchors and at the top to rivet a strap to hold the handrail in place.  I didn’t want to leave the vertical posts plain, and while thinking of the best way to make them more decorative, Shelley recommended a couple of twists on tem, which turned out great.  I created two twists with a space in the middle and had to use a large piece of wood and 4X4 with a hammer to straighten these large pieces out after each twist. A keen eye will notice that I did one twist different…mistakes happen…

As with most of my projects, I hadn’t thought everything through and I was trying to decide how the rail should start and end.  I was thinking about just curving it into a scroll, but realized that would be too difficult to do with a 10’ long piece of twisted steel, so I was thinking of maybe doing some end-caps, and how I would make them.  Again, Shelley came in with a recommendation and challenge.  She thought having a forged ram’s head would add to the handrail and be a sign of our combined arts since she spins and weaves wool and other fibers, so I accepted the challenge and forged a ram’s head out of some of the remaining 1” square stock.  It turned out pretty good, especially considering I’ve tried doing these on a smaller scale with very little luck.

With all the major parts complete, and a little break in the weather, I decided to start assembly.  I happen to have a hammer drill, and bought a masonry bit to drill the holes to use ½” expanding concrete anchors.  At this point, I mounted the vertical posts, tack welded on the twisted hand-rail.  I used zip-ties to attach the “S” pickets to get the right position for the bottom channel, which was then  welded in place, followed by the “S” pickets.  Due to the available concrete to mount the first post, I had to push it back to the second step, so I added an angled piece with a scroll leading up to the ram’s head to fill the void.  After everything was welded in place, I made some ½” copper rivets, annealed them for ease of install, then added straps to the tops of the posts to provide a permanent joining of the twisted rail to the posts.  This project was part forging, part fabrication and well worth it to have a hand-made piece that will forever be a part of our home!

Finished Piece:

-Patrick

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