A client asked me to make them some garden rails to replace the old worn out ones that were currently in their garden. As with almost every project this one presented some new learning experiences and challenges. I had a lot of fun doing it.

 

http://imgur.com/a/TGDwR

Karn3, nice work, well done. May I ask why the rails were mounted to the existing woodwork? It's not a cut on your work, but I think your work (the handrail) would have looked nicer without the wood behind it. It detracts from the metal. Maybe the wood could be painted to match the wall so the bulky, blackness of it doesn't overpower your rail.  How big of a footing did you dig for the stair rails and what sort of finish did you apply? Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Dognose (great name and pic btw)! The wood on the wall is left behind from the old rails that my work was replacing. Consequently it was already in the correct positions and the wall underneath is extremely uneven and made of very hard rocks (granite I think). Drilling into them would have been a pain. It just saved an awful lot of work and the client was perfectly happy with it like that. I think she is going to paint it though as she is in the middle of a lot of work on the house and garden. For the stair rails, I dug them in about 30cm (1ft) and secured them with post-crete. They are good and solid, not going anywhere for a long time hopefully. The finish is a custom mixed carbon-laced paint that polishes up to a metallic shine in a way that highlights hammer marks and other detail, preserving the hand forged look. This was very important to the client and it took me a while to find something that would do the job nicely.

Really nicely done, where did you find the paint?
Bill

nice job