Black Walnut help please

[woodchuck357]

I did something similar, in white oak, for a lady several years ago. I inlet the metal into the tread, screwed up thru the metal, then screwed a second piece of wood to the bottom of the tread to completely cover the support plate.

 

[redfin]

Did you allow for movement of the treads with the holes in the plate?

 

[woodchuck357]

Used three holes in two lines. The center one tight, the other two with slight elongating along the width of the board. The length won't change hardly at all and the width and thickness will change depending on amount of variation in the humidity in the house. The more you live with the house open the more change you will see. Air conditioning in the summer and humidifier in the winter helps maintain equilibrium.

 

[redfin]

I did get some good news today. I spoke with a local kiln operator today and he said they have no issue doing these for me.

I'm eager to get them milled and see what the moisture is at. I planned on putting temporary treads on while we are building so even if it does take awhile to dry these we will be able to use the stairs.

 

[caddguy]

I have lots of experience with walnut. I have used it for building tables, chairs and a really elaborate sitting system for a doctor locally.
I love working with walnut. I cut it and mill it whenever I can get the chance!
It would make awesome treads with some drawbacks. First of all, Slippage. I don't care what you finish it with, short of non-skid surfacing, those will be slick! I am sure you don't want shoes ...ie high heels etc walking on those nice surfaces, so socks and bare feet is it! Trust me when I tell you it's probably not your best choice for a tread alone
As far as fastening them down, I would slot cut the holes for movement and use tslot bolts, then fill the holes with plugs. I don't care how you cut or dry the wood you MUST allow for movement!! Quartersawn wood be best, with riftsawn next best. Keep in mind Walnut doesn't fleck or Ray like White oak and such, so your really doing it for dimensional stability and unless these are big sticks its probably not worth the effort. Of course you could still put the wood in and apply carpet runners to each one for fall protection and noise reduction.
Hope that helps!
~Dave

 

[redfin]

Is there any adhesive I could use instead of bolting that would allow for enough movement.

 

[Grey]

Is there any adhesive I could use instead of bolting that would allow for enough movement.

Nope. Design for movement. I like the bolts in slotted holes idea above. I use the same for attaching tops to trestle style tables. Works great.

 

[PheasantHunter]

Just so you know, you will NEVER stop that wood from moving, no matter what finish you put on it, or how you apply it, but a good finish will slow the movement down...

SR

I completely agree, movement happens no matter what type of finish or drying method (air or kiln). Air dried walnut ALWAYS looks better to me. You don't need the holes to be elongated very much and 1/8" will probably do it (assuming the treads are 12" or less in width).

 

[redfin]

Thanks for helping me, I appreciate very much the help you all have given. Maybe I wiill just use a stardard lag and open up the hole farther than the shank of the lag.

Even with a washer in 3/8" plate I should be able to keep the underside of the treads looking fairly flush.

Here's another question for you engineering heads. At the bottom of the 6" square tube I'm planning on using a 2' x 2' square base of 3/8" plate to weld the 6" tubing to. My plans are to relieve the 5/8" decking and shim the plate flush with the final height of the decking so my flooring will ride on top of the plate and I will trim around the 6" tubing of the stairs.

My thoughts are to double the floor joists and block with 4x4 under the decking. I plan on through bolting the 2x2 plate through the two double floor joists. The movement I'm trying to combat is the side to side loading of the staircase. I'm not really to concerned with front to back, if you understand what I mean.

The top of the "backbone" will be lagged to the lam beam crossing the opening. You think this will be sufficient?

 

[woodchuck357]

I have no experience with using a single stair support. Always in pairs for stairs similar to yours. Just guessing, I think you would need some angle bracing at the top and bottom unless the stairs were quite narrow. Without it the strain will be at the welds attaching the tube to the plates may lead to failure of the join. I would make the plate and the bracing 3/4 the width of the stairs.

 

[redfin]

Angle bracing at the top should be fairly easy to conceal. The bottom may be a tad more difficult. At 24 inches the base plate will be shy of 3/4 width. With a root pass and a finish weld I believe we should be good. The stair treads are 36" wide.

I'm going to have the man mill these soon. I'll get some pics up.

 

[redfin]

Its been awhile but I finally got my walnut to the kiln today. I ended up with 80bf of 16/12.

 

[Greenland South]

What's the white stuff?

 

[blades]

with the water on the floor i guessing it is snow

 

[redfin]

What's the white stuff?

I had just unloaded from the trailer. Really crappy day to be picking these up.

 

[betterbuilt]

Awesome. Have you got any of the welding done? I have a curved set of walnut treads to do in the spring. I still haven't located wide enough walnut for it. I may end up gluing them up.

 

[redfin]

I have not done any work with the steel. I'm waiting on the cad for the exact joist locations. My steel supplier is going to drill and bevel for the 82* bolts.

 

[showrguy]

john,
why the steel, and not all wood/walnut ??
are you going for a mixed contemporary look ??
i have 1 or 2 sets of temporary stairs from when i built my place your welcome to use if ya like.........100X better than ladders...

 

[redfin]

john,
why the steel, and not all wood/walnut ??
are you going for a mixed contemporary look ??
i have 1 or 2 sets of temporary stairs from when i built my place your welcome to use if ya like.........100X better than ladders...

Metal fab is another of my hobbies Chuck. If these come out like I can see them in my noodle it should look dang good. Well at least to me.

 

[redfin]

I made some progress on what I'm calling the "backbone" this week. I'm waiting for my 3/8 plate for the treads and then it will be complete sans walnut.