How to nail Balusters
Stair Baluster Installation with Wooden Spindles
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so far in the staircase renovation we've
transformed this old outdated staircase
by closing in the stair stringers had a
new new oppos adding wainscotting on
angles creating shoe rail for stair
spindles painting the whole thing out
with an HVLP paint sprayer and
installing the handrail this spindle
installation uses shoe rail on the
bottom of the spindles and a handrail
with a channel underneath the spindles
are spaced apart with Filat strips that
fill the gap in the shoe rail I started
the installation on the easiest part
first in this section I test fit the
parts first to make sure the spacing was
right and then I took it all apart and
reassemble it again with glue I've
installed the spindles here and glued
them and put all the blocks in on the
top here I ended up taking this Philip
and screwing in from the top similar to
what was done before this is the
previous railing and they had done this
connected everything so this is all that
one unit now and because I have a
channel in the bottom of the handrail
this piece now slides over top and just
get screwed in from underneath you can
see here I put a screw in to secure the
railing to the new low post and I have a
fill at strip here and I've just back
cut a little bit here so it won't
interfere with that screw and all we're
going to do is glue this together and I
put that up in here and clamp it on and
we're good to go
I've now moved under the angle portion
of these stairs and it's a bit more
challenging to figure out how to layout
the spindles what I've got to do is cut
at the right length because if it's too
long the spindle will be out of plumb if
it's too short it will be out of plumb
this way so I need to figure out exactly
the length of the spindle and get it
plumb at the same time so to do that
I've come up with a jig this jig allows
me to slide these pieces longer and
shorter and what I do is I insert it
into the groove in the shoe rail and
into the dado of the handrail and adjust
it to the right length I put a level
here and make sure that it's level and
then lock it in with the nuts this now
gives me the perfect length that I need
to cut the spindles to so now that I
have the right length I need to figure
out how to make these points equal so
that when I cut the angle this will be
in the center hi I've put some marks on
my jig here so I can line them up with
the shoulders of the turning on this
side here if I try three inches on this
side I get two inches so if I go for two
and a half here that gets me at two and
a half here so I know I'm now in the
center I just need to mark that with a
pencil and cut these off here's a closer
look at the spindle length Jake I built
this is just two pieces of MDF that are
put together with bolts and if I loosen
the bolts on the top it allows us to
slide shorter and longer and then I can
tighten it again at the right length on
the short end of the miter on the top
here I've got increments written and on
this length I've done the same thing
here the fastest and most accurate way
to cut multiple pieces is to put in a
stop block this is secured here at the
length that allows me to bring in a
piece line it up hold it and cut it and
this gives me a consistent cut an
accurate cut and I know everything is
exactly the same
I've caught all the Phillips strips and
I've dry fit these pieces here what this
allows me to do is understand how wide
these spindles are so I can figure out
the gap on this end which you can see is
large and the gap on this end which is
much smaller so we mathematically just
add up the distance here divided by two
and allows me to Center them so the next
step is to cut the fill it strip on the
start at the bottom here and at the top
and that will set the first piece I can
then attach all these pieces in here and
the last piece is just to cut the fill
out strip at the top and then fill it in
I'll show you in some fast motion how
that all comes together the Assembly of
the stair spindles was easy once the
parts were cut they fit snugly in most
spots in a few areas where the spindles
were not as snug I drove in some
finishing nails to give them some extra
holding power I avoided putting nails
through the filleth strips because I had
a high quality sprayed finish and eaten
one or more of them up once it was all
put together he was just a matter of
letting the glue set and we were good to
go I followed the same process for the
rest of the staircase as you can see it
came together well quality is important
to me and I strongly believed what my
father taught me about woodworking if
you're going to do something do it right
the first time
I'm going to leave you with some links
to other videos in his home improvement
series if you enjoyed this video please
give it a thumbs up until next time
enjoy your time in the workshop
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