On Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:11:22 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Are the handrails made like that for appearance or is their a
practical reason to have the wide board and narrower grip rail?

I'd imagine that the wide boards were to match and fully cover the
4x4s, but then were too wide for many hands to grab, so then the
narrower grip rail becomes necessary/advisable.