How to get the twofer when doing hand rails

admin

This was one of those projects where I traded out work with a bud.  He's a lot smarter than I am at computer and art stuff and I can make things out of wood and iron that make him smile.He wanted a nice but not too much rail around the master bedroom deck. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:nice job like the terminations to the posts, especially the top rail
Reply:This is where the twofer comes in, we all know what the great twofer is, right?  I can't believe anyone would want to build anything without first wanting to build the tools to build it with, the great twofer.I had some hammered tubing from King already, looks great when it is powder coated.  But the top rail material was one by two and I didn't have any fittings for butting it into cedar posts.The twofer, I can make them puppies!Here's how I did it. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:The first thing of course is use the mind's eye to design the tooling, maybe we should call this the threefer?  Then there's the die and punch after we take short pieces of bar stock and make it a leafy thingy. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Then it's heat and hammer, make more than you need so you can cherry pick, and oh yeah, there's a missing photo.If you look at the punch you will see it has a stepped head.  The narrow part is what I used to get the final fold.  I took photos but back then I wasn't as interested in sharing the details I guess.Now it's a little different for me.  I appreciate that ninety nine point nine percent of the fun is making it your own.  That's true of you as much as it is of me.  So what I try to do is give you a peek over the line and then hope it will encourage you to go over it and find your own fun.Maybe you will be the one that will walk around shaking your head wondering why I stopped at the threefer because you found the fourfer. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Wow awesome! I wanna be a blacksmith when i grow up.2 invision 456 mp, 456 pheonix, 3 hypertherm 1250, Hypertherm 45,Dynasty 200dx, Millermatic 210 w/ spoolgun, Bobcat 250, 12vs extreme, slugger dry cut saw, slugger mag drill, O/A rig, Piles of tools
Reply:Top piece of the railing is only attached to the wooden posts by the shiny hex head screw shown in the picture? I mean the one holding the termination piece you made.It looks great but somehow I see these attachment point a bit weak (it is probably not). Any chance someone pushes on the top of the railing, bowing a bit the top piece... and pulling it from the termination piece?Mikel
Reply:Mikel24, I think that's a lag screw so it will be fine. If he wanted to conceal the lag screw head you could have welded flat stock on the inside with a hole . No ones even gonna notice it except for us guys here.    AWESOME job on the ''BLACKSMITH " work for sure. That is really impressive.
Reply:Originally Posted by Mikel_24Top piece of the railing is only attached to the wooden posts by the shiny hex head screw shown in the picture? I mean the one holding the termination piece you made.It looks great but somehow I see these attachment point a bit weak (it is probably not). Any chance someone pushes on the top of the railing, bowing a bit the top piece... and pulling it from the termination piece?Mikel
Reply:Real nice job! This is very impressive!PlasmaCam CNC cutterLathe and Band SawClamps