Oak Stair Treads: make or buy?

[jgourlay]

Stair treads from the store are
  expensive, and I own a jointer/planer/router/saws.  What's the downside, risks, besides effort, or rolling your own?

[Mr_Mike]

In my case, I needed thin treads with a full bullnose laminated on the front. I made my own from cherry. After I was done, I concluded I'd rather have that time back and should have purchased them.

If I could do full thickness treads, perhaps I'd do it again.

[tomsteve]

Stair treads from the store are
  expensive, and I own a jointer/planer/router/saws.  What's the downside, risks, besides effort, or rolling your own?

downside, which personally I wouldn't see as a downside, is time to mill the treads. and the sawdust,chips after. as long as the MS is right, I personally don't see any real downsides of DIY treads. you can make them the thickness you want, width and depth you want, out of what wood you want, and finish them how you want.
plus the gratification of having DIY when your done.
ive looked through a stack of stair treads at the local HD a while ago.oak. not sure if it was just that store, but i saw quite a few dings and dents, a couple had splits, and some of the glue ups were done with mismatched colors of oak. thought that if i was doing a complete staircase id have to hit a few different stores to get enough.

[DogwoodTales]

Quality, time, and money.
Pick any two.
If there's no difference in quality, and being that these are just stair treads I'm guessing not (I've installed store bought overlay treads before for a customer that were no better than what I could make), then choose one of the last two.
Personally I'd just by them. My time is too valuable to me to save a few bucks on stair treads.

[K. L. McReynolds]

I must be cheap. The time it would take is about 10 minutes a tread total, maybe less, depending on the lengths of stock.

I have bought(for the business) treads from a lumberyard. That took half a day(3+ hours), figuring in travel time, loading/unloading, setting up a saw to cut to size, and making sure the surfaces were smooth(not a lot since the treads were good quality).

I made a landing for a set of stairs by processing raw stock(jointer/planer/size) and cutting that into three wedge shaped steps which were bull nosed to match the treads. Took a total of two hours(+ 24 hours glue dry time).

If the stock was 12' long, you get three 48" treads. Maybe a max of 15 treads or five pieces of stock. An hour for the jointer, 30 minutes in the planer, another thirty for bull nosing(using a roundover/both sides), 20 minutes for sizing. Figure three hours to get the stock and a half hour carrying time-----which you'd spend buying treads. Gotta be half the price of ready to use treads.

[Herb G]

About 30 years ago, I helped a friend install a staircase.
He bought an old house & redid the whole interior.
The stairs were the last task to complete.

Now his Dad was an above average woodworker who helped him out by making the entire staircase.
He milled the risers, treads, case frame, whole shebang.
Even finished them with an initial coat of poly.

The hard part was installing them. I never had to fight a piece of construction
as much as I did that staircase. Nothing lined up, nothing fit right.
It was a major PITA.

We finally got it in, and his Dad came to look at it.
He had a puzzled look on his face.
The staircase was a beauty.
Black walnut treads, with cherry risers.
Oak banisters & handrails.

Problem was, the treads were supposed to be cherry & the risers black walnut.
We installed it backwards.

[mad_planter]

Two questions:

1.  No returns on the end?  Doing them would be a time sink.
2.  Could cupping be a issue making the tread out of one 12" wide board?  I know with flooring a board that wide can cause issues.

Could luck with your project no matter what direction you go!  I am in the middle of doing my stairs as well.  I bought the treads and risers from a local Amish hardwood products/sawmill.  I debated doing them myself and decided it wasn't worth the time and wear and tear on the machinery to clean up that much rough stock.

[toolmiser]

I have one piece treads that I made myself with returns, and they've lasted 17 years with no problems.  They are red and white oak (I wasn't paying attention and put a white in by accident).  I glued them to the stringers with construction adhesive and used a pneumatic nailer.  I do notice the top one will have a gap between it and the hardwood floor in the winter (Wisconsin).  I'm not saying this approach was right, but at least I got away with it.  Most people don't notice they are one piece, now days most people don't notice much!

One thing to consider is that you will have a lot of unused lumber from 8' boards.  Not a problem you can't overcome, and depending on the grade you purchase, you might have to work around a defect or two.

I did make mine a little thicker because I could since the lumber was a little thicker to begin with, I always like to do this if possible.

[Stwood_]

Even if you are capable of making them, I would go price them first. Look em over real good. MOre than likely, you'll get a bunch of narrow strips that have been glued up. Too many narrow strips, different colors doesn't look good.

Price your material to make them, then decide what you should do

[Duane N]

For me I like to do/make my own things (when possible) rather than buying them out of pride and being stubborn like my Grandfather.  Buying them may be cheaper in the long run along with saving time but I don't look at things like that when it comes to personal projects around my home.