Handrailing question...

[PaulMarcel]

Long ago, I redid my stairs in walnut, lacewood, and cork.  The handrails are still the original oak handrails with painted white balusters.  I would like to remake the handrails in walnut to tie everything together.  The balusters will remain white as it will go well with the rest of the house's casings, etc.

Here's a photo today:

[attachimg=1]

The handrails are all straight; just one gooseneck.

I had enormous difficulty getting a piece of 8/4 Walnut over 10' long to have a single piece for the topmost handrail (I could scarf it, but I would prefer continuous grain).  I ripped the piece into 3 handrail blanks and I have enough length with a fair amount to spare so things are good there.  I want the rips to settle for a couple days to equalize.

My question: only one blank is mostly riffsawn.  The others are definitely more flatsawn.  My concern is movement; it isn't like these are attached to a wall that will help with it.  I have two ideas but very much open to experience here...

Idea one: make a 1" deep kerf cut in the middle of the underside then use plastic resin glue to glue in a slice of walnut that exactly fits the kerf.  I'm thinking this will somewhat create a bent lamination effect to stabilize the wood; that the cut isn't clear through would leave the surface grain unscathed but since I'll get pretty close to "through", the bit of continuous walnut at the top shouldn't affect the stability.

Idea two: Much more along the bent lamination idea, rip it lengthwise with a bandsaw for minimal loss then glue it back up.  I'd hope to get the glueline right where the profile will peak so it is more hidden, but I wonder about that.

Other ideas?

If anyone has a good suggestion on a finish, I'd love to hear it.  I'm researching epoxy-based finishes to make them as impervious to moisture as I can.

Thanks!

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Paul,

I like the idea of hogging out material and refilling or you could just buy a ranch.

 

[bjackson3]

Wood mostly moves in width not length...In this case the width of the handrail is not very much at all.  If it were me I wouldn't be concerned with it.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

The wood twisting is probably the biggest concern.  That's why I was thinking about adding the wood insert.

 

[PaulMarcel]

Yeah, I understand the general expansion of the wood.  My concern lies with the rail later thinking it really wants to twist, bow, etc.  While I'd love to know how to make a tangential handrail, I don't want one by accident!  [crying]  So I am looking to stabilize against later twist/bowing due to seasonal change.

I forgot to mention the Newell posts in the first post.  I have a reasonable supplier locally that gets them in some kind of rubber plant.  Apparently takes dyes and stains very nicely so I'll go that route for the Newell posts.  Maybe just paint them fuschia.  Just kidding.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Yeah, I understand the general expansion of the wood.  My concern lies with the rail later thinking it really wants to twist, bow, etc.  While I'd love to know how to make a tangential handrail, I don't want one by accident!  [crying]  So I am looking to stabilize against later twist/bowing due to seasonal change.

I forgot to mention the Newell posts in the first post.  I have a reasonable supplier locally that gets them in some kind of rubber plant.  Apparently takes dyes and stains very nicely so I'll go that route for the Newell posts.  Maybe just paint them fuschia.  Just kidding.

Never heard of that as an option, but I guess rubber newel posts will handle any twisting of the handrail and they'll also flex and bounce back when someone falls over the handrail.