Potential class on tangent handrailing

Keith Mathewson

I've spoken with Jim Baldwin and he feels that he would like to teach a class on the tangent handrail system. The concern is are there enough people who would be willing to attend the class to offset expenses. The way things look at the moment I would provide the shop space, in Seattle, which would mean Jim would have travel and lodging expenses as well as some compensation for his time. If the class were to go forward it would be filmed for a later dvd. The dvd would be more of a rough Youtube style then the more professional ones you are used to seeing in Gary Katz's dvds. The reason for making the dvds would be two fold, one as a reference to refer back to at a later date and second something for our friends in Canada, Britain etc. for whom it would be too far away to justify attending. From my prospective the goal here is not to make money on this, more likely not to loose too much money on this, but to try to hold what may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn tangent handrailing from someone who has made handrailing his life's work.

I'll also post this on some other forums to see what interest there may be.

Millertyme

Keith, if it weren't for the 3000 miles I would love to be a part of this. I have recently bought a few books on tangent hand railing, but find them very difficult to decipher. I understand the basic concept, but the books go into great detail and some things aren't described clearly enough. When I do my carved wreaths, I build a form and attach a drawing to it. I start carving away and it is more of a trial and error approach. Obviously this is not the most efficient way to do this. I have found no videos of this on the web.If you know of any please share. Good luck with your project and videos.

BigJim

I am in the same boat as Millertyme, I have always made my wreaths the hard way and would love to know how the right way. Being on the East coast and too old to do anything now days, the timing is a little too late for me. If he does go forward and the DVDs aren't too expensive I would love to own one of them. I also have books on the rails and they are tough to understand. I finally do understand how to arrive at the wreath but cutting and carving it is another thing. I will be watching this thread.

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Jim

Keith Mathewson

At the moment I'm trying to enough people interested to come close to covering the cost of doing this. If it does go forward then the more people who are willing to buy the dvd the lower the price will be.

Millertyme

jiju- I was doing some web surfing and came across this
http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/s...d.php?p=588903
It is a current thread with a bunch of info and great links.

Keith, I own the Simplified Guide To Tangent Handrailing. I find it doesnt explain well enough. Is there a better written book than this one that you recommend. I understand that different books will discuss the same techniques however i feel my book is written very poorly.

Millertyme

how long of a class do you think...1 day..a couple??

JBaldwin

Another ridiculous handrail for a ridiculous stair...

This 6010 Cherry handrail had to make a 180 degree climbing turn over 6 (unbalanced) winder steps and a 6 inch center-line floor plan radius before going straight again. This required easements within the rail to accommodate pitch changes of 35 to 60 degrees.

Without the possibility of "bender-rail" or any kind of 5 axis CNC equipment, traditional tangent layout methods were used to develop patterns for the 3 required solid segments. Shaping was accomplished on home-built machine.

Working from plans, I have one chance at this before I send it to a customer 2000 miles away. After that I hold my breath until it's installed.

Should I say, "this is not a typical DIY project".

A big "Thanks" to Keith for encouraging me to be part of the upcoming class and for his continuing promotional support. I am looking forward to it!

Jim Baldwin

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Millertyme

I would like to see what this home built machine looks like.