Decking handrail

[Douglas2]

I have built a deck and have the newel posts securely built into the deck, just ready for the handrail. The handrail I have comes with a fillet piece and I will going to drill dowel holes into the handrail and spindles. All fine so far. But how do I attach the handrail to the newel posts? Can't do it by dowel as the posts are already built.

Any help appreciated.

 

[r896neo]

You can skew screw in a less obvious place or a real nice job is to get a plug cutter and cut a hole on the far side of the post and then screw through the post and into the rail. Then replace the plug and once oiled up you will never see it.

 

[ladylola]

Bit more long winded but you could also opt for a slip tenon, that is cut a motise in both the newel and the handrail, fit a seperate piece as a tenon (lenght is the depth of both mortises) and drop the handrail onto the tenon from above and fix with pins , glue , pegs or screws.

 

[coliholic]

Or the easy way? Small steel angle bracket UNDER the hand rail screwed to the newel post and to the rail.

if you want to get really flash, go for stainless steel brackets and screws.

This is how I did mine, worked perfectly.

 

[r896neo]

It looks a bit naff though in my opinion. All timber and then a few shiny metal brackets??

That said it looks fine if using metal balustrades or pre made ironwork panels

 

[imamartian]

It looks a bit naff though in my opinion. All timber and then a few shiny metal brackets??

That said it looks fine if using metal balustrades or pre made ironwork panels

i used steel brackets on mine, but i put them on 'upside-down', so the bit screwed to the post was literally between the handrail and the post, so not visible.

You might need to chisel a small rebate into the end of the handrail (to get a snug fit) which is a bit of a pain if you have dozens to do. But you only need the small brackets as they aren't load bearing (the posts do that job).

 

[coliholic]

It looks a bit naff though in my opinion. All timber and then a few shiny metal brackets??

That said it looks fine if using metal balustrades or pre made ironwork panels

i used steel brackets on mine, but i put them on 'upside-down', so the bit screwed to the post was literally between the handrail and the post, so not visible.

You might need to chisel a small rebate into the end of the handrail (to get a snug fit) which is a bit of a pain if you have dozens to do. But you only need the small brackets as they aren't load bearing (the posts do that job).

Eggs zackery. Forgot to say that the brackets are put on as our alien friend says, upside down.