wrote:
We've had our horrible old staircase revived - it used to be mahogany-
stained pine with the soldiers falling out. We've painted the
strings, replaced the string caps and soldiers and painted all that +
newels white, and replaced the handrails with oak. However, to
complete it I'd like to put in newel caps in oak to match the
handrails.

I've found these:

http://www.shawstairs.com/product_details_23.htm

but I can't work out how to fit them. They seem to have rather
large ... er ... lugs? on the bottom (it has a diameter of 38 on the
picture). How would I go about fixing this to the top of the newel
(which is flat, except for the slightly rounded edges)? I have a
drill but no 38mm bits!

The easy answer is that you buy the newel posts with matching holes in
the top. However, you are not starting from there!

Hence you need to drill a big ish hole. The simplest way is probably
with an expansive bit in a powerful drill on low speed. Once the hole is
done (try to keep it nice and parallel to the post), chop a bit off the
peg on the cap so that it has a flat on the round section (this will let
air our when you try to push it into the hole). Smother in PVA, tape it
into the hole. Job done.

And then there's the half-cap - how would I fix this where the newel
butts up to the wall?

http://www.shawstairs.com/product_details_24.htm

Now drilling half a hole is a tad more tricky. So you have a couple of
options he

You could mark out the wood to be removed, chain drill just inside the
perimeter of you line, and then chop out what you need with a chisel.

alternatively, since the cap will be flat against the wall anyway, you
could simply chop off its peg, slap some no more nails on the flat side
and stick it on the wall above the post.



--
Cheers,

John.

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