I'm restoring a Victorian house and would like to replace my porch railings (which are simple turned spindle balusters) with flat sawn balusters similar to the one in this picture. I figure I'll need around 50 of them which would be very costly if I purchased them from some of the suppliers I've found in internet searches. So, being a woodworker, I thought I might try cutting the patterns out myself. Has anyone done this and if so can give me some guidance or tips? I'm also wondering if a CNC machine could crank these out?
(11-04-2019, 09:56 AM)TFM Wrote: I'm restoring a Victorian house and would like to replace my porch railings (which are simple turned spindle balusters) with flat sawn balusters similar to the one in this picture. I figure I'll need around 50 of them which would be very costly if I purchased them from some of the suppliers I've found in internet searches. So, being a woodworker, I thought I might try cutting the patterns out myself. Has anyone done this and if so can give me some guidance or tips? I'm also wondering if a CNC machine could crank these out?
Tim
Depends on what pattern you like, this one
would be easy to cut out. Roly
pattern following bit with a router to clean up blanks you rough cut with a jig saw. It will just take a bit of persistence. Make a decent pattern and get to work.
(11-04-2019, 01:26 PM)Splinter Puller Wrote: pattern following bit with a router to clean up blanks you rough cut with a jig saw. It will just take a bit of persistence. Make a decent pattern and get to work.
Splinter, I have very little experience with (electric) routers. What is a pattern following bit?
(11-04-2019, 01:26 PM)Splinter Puller Wrote: pattern following bit with a router to clean up blanks you rough cut with a jig saw. It will just take a bit of persistence. Make a decent pattern and get to work.
Never mind Splinter, I saw some examples on Utube. Me thinks the key to this is an extremely smooth and accurate pattern. Thanks for the tip!
![[Image: how-to-build-flat-sawn-baluster-railings...C898&ssl=1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.prettyhandygirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/how-to-build-flat-sawn-baluster-railings.jpg?resize=511%2C898&ssl=1)
