Determine Baluster Length

Beginner4 hours

Part of project

How to Measure and Cut Stair Balusters to the Right Angle · Step 2 of 5

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To determine the precise length for the balusters, place a baluster into a mortise on the shoe rail, and another into the corresponding mortise on the handrail (still loose on the newel posts). Mark both balusters with a pencil at the point where they meet the bottom of the handrail. Pull out the balusters and measure the distance from the bottom of the mortise on the shoe rail to the mark on the handrail, plus the depth of the handrail's mortise. This measurement will be the desired length for all balusters. The presenter notes his handrail mortises are about a half-inch deep. In this instance, the total length needed is 35.5 inches.

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subscribe so thanks for that so now i've got my handrail and my shoe rail all mortised out and i'm getting ready to take those back up and the next step will be to cut a bunch of these balusters and i need to know what length i want to cut those and the best way to do that is going to be to know the space between my shoe rail and the bottom of the handrail and then add to that whatever the depth of my mortises are so i'm just going to take a couple scraps of baluster mark them with a pencil that way i can get a good idea on what the gate the depth of these mortises actually is same thing on the shoe rail i'll jam it in as far as it'll go mark the bottom and then i'll pull these out and measure whatever that is looks like it's about a half inch on both of them and i'll add that to the space between the bottom of the handrail on the top of the shoe rail and that'll be my baluster length so

Auto-generated transcript. May contain errors.

Determine Baluster Length

Advanced

4 hours

Part of project

How to Measure and Cut Stair Balusters to the Right Angle · Step 2 of 5

Was this clip helpful?

In this video

To determine the precise length for the balusters, place a baluster into a mortise on the shoe rail, and another into the corresponding mortise on the handrail (still loose on the newel posts). Mark both balusters with a pencil at the point where they meet the bottom of the handrail. Pull out the balusters and measure the distance from the bottom of the mortise on the shoe rail to the mark on the handrail, plus the depth of the handrail's mortise. This measurement will be the desired length for all balusters. The presenter notes his handrail mortises are about a half-inch deep. In this instance, the total length needed is 35.5 inches.

156.5K views3.2K

Video Transcript

(900 characters)

Hide

subscribe so thanks for that so now i've got my handrail and my shoe rail all mortised out and i'm getting ready to take those back up and the next step will be to cut a bunch of these balusters and i need to know what length i want to cut those and the best way to do that is going to be to know the space between my shoe rail and the bottom of the handrail and then add to that whatever the depth of my mortises are so i'm just going to take a couple scraps of baluster mark them with a pencil that way i can get a good idea on what the gate the depth of these mortises actually is same thing on the shoe rail i'll jam it in as far as it'll go mark the bottom and then i'll pull these out and measure whatever that is looks like it's about a half inch on both of them and i'll add that to the space between the bottom of the handrail on the top of the shoe rail and that'll be my baluster length so

Transcript may be auto-generated and contain errors.