[TheForge] Spiral Stair Rails

[Stephen McGehee]

Randy  What works for me:  I had to make a spiral section of 5/8 x
1-1/4, narrow dimension on top.  I found a cable spool with
approximately the same diameter as the rail curve, made a staple to hold
the bar against the edge of the spool, and bent the bar the easy way,
hot.  Then I mounted a post vise horizontally to a secure surface, with
vertical jaws, the vise being about 7 feet above ground and heated a
couple of feet at a time and twisted it with a couple of big scrolling
wrenches made from grader blade.  I was in the front yard of a new
house, about 30 feet from the rail location, and carried it back and
forth many times until it was right.  I made a charcoal forge about 4
feet long to do this job, in retrospect, a gas forge with about 4
burners would have made more sense.  This fitting of this piece took an
entire day, well into the night, as I had worked at the shop all
morning.  The buyer came by with a friend during this fire circus and
she will never forget the scene, I had half of my shop spread out in the
hall of her house, she said it looked like Silver Dollar City...

The trick that worked was to bend it first the easy way, then untwist it
the hard way, and use good wrenches with smooth radiused jaws, and even
heat.

I am curious as to how other people have done this chore myself, there
oughta be an easier/simpler way.



 Stephen McGehee
 Publisher of
 Irony, the sketchbook of an apprentice blacksmith
 P. O. Box 9822  Pine Bluff, AR 71611
 irony@epowerc.net
 (870) 540-0142
 (479) 643-3299 (farm)
 You can see a sample of IRONY magazine here:

  http://lametalsmiths.org/news/page4.htm  )