Having attempted to bend[1] a pigs ear handrail the once, next time it
will be done in segments!

[1] It was an attempt to replicate the elegant curves you often see in
victorian places on handrails by stairs. I thought of attempting steam
bending but wan not convinced I would be able to control the direction
of bend properly with the awkward shape of the pigs ear handrail. So in
the end I did it by slicing up the handrail end on a table saw to make
laminations, with cuts at a kerf's spacing. I then repeated the same on
some ordinary softwood to create a bunch of thin laths that could
replace the missing wood in the hand rail. Glued it all up, stuck the
laths into the handrail and bent the whole thing and clamped to a
former. Once it was dry it was then a case of planing away the excess
lath sticking out. Not too difficult on the outside of the curve - but
harder on the inside. finished off with plenty of filler a lick from a
power file. Looked ok in the end - but possibly not worth the effort.
(you will note I did not do the same for the last section going round
the winder!)

If I end up making a handrail for the outside of the staircase I think
I'll do it the easy way - join, sculpt, fill and paint!

Many thanks!

David.