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I have rebuilt many staircases on historic houses. This is a common problem. To do this correctly, I prefer to pull the spindle. The mitered end cap is nailed to the tread. Gently pop it off. As was mentioned before, each spindle is dovetailed on the bottom and nests in a dovetailed notch in the tread. It won't be nailed in unless someone did a poor repair with brad nails to 'tighten' it up. Just pull the spindle. no need to mess with anything else. Drill a slightly over size hole in the end grains of the break. Cut the head of a threaded steel bolt to use as a dowel. Getting perfect alignment on a break is hard, hence the slightly over sized holes drilled. Add epoxy to the holes, set the steel threaded rod into place and clamp the spindle together with two straight pieces of wood holding the spindle into alignment, and one clap compressing its length. since its painted, you can get away with some Abatron or use some epoxy with fine saw dust mixed in until its the consistency of thick peanut butter. Smear that around the break as filler. Paint and reinstall. The end cap on the tread will pop right back into place. I know of no way to enact the repair with the spindle installed. It might look repaired but it will be purely aesthetic, and potentially a safety hazard if they have little kids in the house. If the spindle is loose when you reinstall it, before you put on the end cap, you can slide some small shims between the dovetail cheeks. Tap lightly with a hammer and cut the excess off. Dont pack them in since the tread needs room to breathe.
Just a cool fact on old stairs. I was fully restoring a beautiful staircase that was burned badly in a fire. As I was disassembling the entire unit, there was only ONE nail per tread holding the entire staircase together. It was so well made. Everything fit into a pocket and was held in place by the next piece. Literally 15 nails holding the stairs together and they were tight! Outside of the newel bolt and the railing hardware in the pockets, that was all the metal in the staircase.
Rob
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I've fixed a few turnings using the steel rod and epoxy solution and it can be done with the turning off the piece of furniture or stair. If using some special grain wood, this was my preferred solution. In the case of something being painted, I'd prefer to turn a new one as it would be better and more solid IMO.
My 2 cents.
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(05-18-2020, 07:10 PM)rectangle618 Wrote: Yes, true. And that's what Norm did in the This Old House episode I mentioned. Either that, or turn a new baluster.
He glued it back together, then made a straight cut through the glued up portion, drilled for a dowel, then re-glued it with the dowel. So it did have strength at the end of the repair.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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(05-19-2020, 06:10 AM)AHill Wrote: He glued it back together, then made a straight cut through the glued up portion, drilled for a dowel, then re-glued it with the dowel. So it did have strength at the end of the repair.
An alternate method I learned was to pick a "transition point" near the break. The transition will hide the cut.
Drill through one end of the break thru the "transition point" on that side.
Make a straight cut at the transition point.
Take the cutoff part and glue the two broken ends together. Let the glue cure.
Using the same drill, now drill through the cutoff part and thru the break. You now have an aligned hole through the break and transition point.
Insert a dowel, threaded rod, or smooth rod into the hole spanning the break and the cut line and glue in place.
If needed, Bondo will fill the cracks and chipped out parts. Sand and paint/finish.
ASCII art: x = break, t=transition , h= hole
-------x----t------
hhhhhhhhh
-------x----t------
drill ---------->
cut ^
glue ^
drill <-------
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Since I turn, I would just turn a new one.
VH07V
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Perhaps a variation on the below theme might work. After the spindle has been removed and repaired with a loose dowel and epoxy, the bottom stud is the problem. Drill up in the bottom of the spindle and insert a spring and a dowel of the right size. Its a one-shot deal so make it easy to work. Epoxy and a brad gun is your friend.
In my 1960s house I had a balustrade that had the spindles about 6-1/2" to 7" apart. New grand baby could crawl through and into the stair well. Went to Lowes, got some sort-of matching spindles and drilled the bottoms for a spring and dowel. I'd push the dowel up into the spindle, insert the top, then slide the spindle over the hole and the dowel would drop in. Worked well.
Like they say, no pictures, didn't happen:
Dowels and springs. The dowels were also drilled for the spring.
Before with the holes drilled
Finished job
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Bob
Read about people doing that but never saw it used before. Very well done and thanks for sharing.
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(05-25-2020, 02:52 AM)hcbph Wrote: Bob
Read about people doing that but never saw it used before. Very well done and thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the kind words.
The spindles cost me about $70.00. It sure beat the heck out of having new railing system installed for several grand. I had the springs in stock. They were a little weaker than I would have preferred but they still worked. As I said, it was a one shot deal so some experimenting had to be done up front.
I could have turned the spindles to get a better match, but the difference between the bought spindles and the old ones was't enough to justify the time.
