Need ideas for a short stair railing

[DocsMachine]

I have a short section of stair railing that I need to embellish.

The framework (roughly pictured below) is 1" square tubing, with the uprights on approximately 16" centers. The top rail will have a wraparound oak handrail attached. The lower edge (the top of the short wall to which the railing is bolted to) will be covered with an oak plank.

So what I'm looking to do is fill the three panels with some wrought ironwork.

Now, there's some limitations: I only have a small propane forge. I can build a larger one if I need to (and I've been planning to) but basically, I'll only be able to heat several inches at a time, of a relatively small bar. (Forge can be opened at both ends, though, so heating the center of a long bar is possible.

I also don't have a power hammer, no fullers, no guillotine tools, and precious few punches. Basically, I have an anvil, several hammers, and a couple of hot-cut hardies. I won't mind having to make a few tools, but there is a bit of a time issue on this so I'd rather not spend most of it making fullers and the like.

On the plus side, I have- and I'm not joking- about half a ton of semirusty 3/8" rod, a 20 foot stick of 3/8" square, 10' of 1/2" square, and piles and piles of miscellaneous sections of other sizes of rod and bar. Local supplier has plenty more in stock, and I'll buy a few bits if need be.

And to assemble it all, I have a MIG and TIG, stick and gas welders, and a stack of machine tools that can do whatever the hammer and forge can't.

Last- and worst- I'm very much still the green amateur at the blacksmithing side.

So, I'm looking for ideas to fill the panels. Scrollwork, perhaps, or Frank Lloyd Wright style geometric patterns? Wrought roses might be a bit beyond my current ability, but just some simple twisted picket bars might be too simple.

The rail is going to be in the entryway of a house- I'd like to see it fancy, but not too overpowering. Owner's a hunter, so I was thinking simple scrollwork in the end panels, and something suggesting a nature scene, or possibly a deer or elk, in the middle panel. Maybe just a stylized elk antler design?

Anyway, suggestions and ideas welcome I need to start on this next Monday (frame's done, I just need to add the embellishment) and I have roughly two weeks to finish it, as it'll be a holiday present done and installed while the owner is out.

If you'd like to draw something, I have a larger copy of the sketch drawing here. (TIF image, apprx. 85KB.)

Thanks.

Doc.

[Falang]

Wow, lot of work to do for just 2 weeks... even with a ready design...

Well, as the railing is not for you, what about telling us more about the guy that gets it? Or the house it ist to be mounted to? You know, tastes are different...

Chris

[DocsMachine]

Well, as I said, the frame is done, the top wood handrail only needs to be trimmed to length and then stained and sealed, and some minor trimwork for the oak base. Technically, I could have the basic handrail installed in a day.

All I'm looking for are some ideas for embellishment- some scrollwork to fill the openings. And it doesn't have to be 300 pounds of 2" diameter scrolls, either. The "mass manufactured" way would be just a single twisted picket in the middle of each panel, each with a pair of S-scrolls that form the classic heart-shape.

That, however, is cliche and awful. I'd like something a bit more elegant, perhaps even a bit mideval. I've been rooting through the galleries looking for ideas, and while there's some very fine work shown in there, I'm having a hard time translating some of that stuff into this particular setup.

I'm also not necessarily looking to go 100% "traditional" here, and use only rivets and forge-welds. I expected to do something like forge a dozen or more separate elements, and then MIG or TIG them into position. I'm hoping everything can be heat-colored more or less uniformly, and then I'll clearcoat everything with some good urethane. (It's an indoor setup.)

Doc.

[ironrosefarms]

Doc, after looking at your website and seeing RAGE, I feel like offering a design suggestion is a lot like the 1st grade student instructing the College prof...

Your first post said the guy is a hunter and you wanted something outside of the basic picket design. That brought a idea of not using vertical posts at all. Using the idea of the elk that you mentioned I sketched a pretty good version on paper, however I don't have a scanner so I have a hack job drawing made in paint... Maybe it will get my idea across... I added the second pix using a bellowing elk pix to help define the lines... the left panel could be any terrain texture or even pickets?

James

[DocsMachine]

Actually, that's not a bad idea. I might have to fiddle with that a bit, as I kind of have my heart set on having at least some classic-style wrought scrollwork, but I see what you're trying to do there.

As for Rage, well, while I did use several hammers and pounded on things, there was no real blacksmithing involved, It was more like clever auto bodywork.

For whatever reason- at least in part because I've never done it before- I'm having a hard time visualizing how to fit wrought-ironwork into this railing, and have it look the way I want it to- but then, I'm not even sure how I want it to look.

What do you call "classic" wrought scrollwork? IS there even such a thing? Or does it go with whichever age it was created in, like Gothic or Victorian or Elizabethan?

Doc.

[Mills]

One way that I do this is to just sit and sketch. When I get something I like I put it into a scale drawing and then make changes as I hammer. It helps to study some other scrollwork for inspiration. Also for simplicity, one scroll jig can produce different sizes of scrolls and those can be hand tweaked to make an infinite variety. So don't feel bogged with tooling.

Here is a link to some nice books on the subject. I get lots of ideas and instruction from them.
Craft publications

[NateDJ]

perhaps combine James design with a few long stem grass with scrolled leaves? just hammer flat a long section with pointed tip and slightly curve the outside edges before scrolling the end and weld the stem to the base of the railing? Maybe even a few twig/leaf combination as well?

[ThomasPowers]

First thing: will that railing pass the local requirements? If not do you want to be associated with it cause if any kid ever gets hurt on it you are stuck holding a great big open bag of liability! So find out what is ther legal requirements for a stair railing where you are at!

If it doesn't pass you may want to design it so when finished it would pass.

My first design thought was tree or grapevine motif, then I though about having a transition with the lowest panel being cat tails and water motifs the next up meadow/scrub motifs and the last forrest motifs

Note that all these can be applied over a background screening of heavy woven wire---like gravel screens that has been painted black or green or blue, etc. (to pass the 4" rule if that is in effect)

[DocsMachine]

The railing goes in a private home in a semirural area. There are no restrictions. It's a gift for family, not a commercial job.

As I said, I'd rather lean toward classic scrollwork of some sort, but after doing several Google Image Searches, and looking through the galleries here, there's simply an endless variety of shapes and styles. I'm having some difficulty sorting out a design that will look classic and elegant, yet something I can make with materials at hand and with the tools available- and not have it take me six months to do it.

I don't ask for much, do I?

Doc.

[ThomasPowers]

Commercial doesn't mean anything in this situation you still have the liability and you don't have a corp to absorb it so they can take your house, car, shop, tools, etc. Being friends doesn't help as much as you would like to either. My insurance states that in case of an accident I have to sue any third party involved or the insurance doesn't have to pay. Many policies have that hidden away in it.

Not having any restrictions is what helps a lot! Hopefully there isn't any state wide ones you are not aware of. I live in a semi rural unincorporated area with no local restrictions but I know there are some statewide ones I ignore at my future peril as I have done so in the past and will probably do so in the future as well---but with my eyes open.