On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 11:49:14 +0200, wrote:

I can weld up brackets, and buy more clamps. However, the stairs are
finished, they are built from masonry / bricks, with marble treads,
wooden nosing's and terra cotta 'like' tile, risers. I don't see how I
can clamp anything to them, without damaging them.

Since your run is only about 6' you might be able to cheat and use a
flat bend. You might try to make a template out of something that
will stay flat, maybe 1/4" plywood or even a stiff cardboard. Lay it
on your treads and scribe it to the wall. See how that lays on your
treads while avoiding the temptation to push the ends down. My guess
is that as you hold the template down to the noses, on the middle
couple of treads, the template will be a little high at both ends. If
that amount is not too great (no more than 2" or so) you MIGHT be able
to live with it. If the template (laying flat) is close enough, you
could then just glue up a flat bending rail off-site.
You can use the same technique mentioned before but just screw your
brackets to a wood floor somewhere or to a piece of 3/4" plywood. You
might be able to get by with plywood brackets (since the bend is flat)
but that will depend on a lot of factors including thickness of the
strips, species and how much pressure it takes to bend all of the
strips at one time.
Another thing to be aware of is that you will want to bend on the
inside of your arc. That arc will need to be smaller than your
template by the distance to the center of your bracket (from the wall)
plus 1/2 the thickness of your rail.

Mike O.