Wooden Spiral Staircase

[jonliles]

Unfortunately steel is out of the question. Does anyone have plans for a wooden spiral staircase? The Art. Dir. wants a spiral staircase for Anything Goes.

 

[MPowers]

This link lead to several hundred sources to buy. Some obviously far out of the price range I know you want to spend. However some may offer plans for sale or if you are or have access to a skilled carpenter, some of these photos could be reverse engineered to get a plan.

Wood Spiral stair - Bing Images

If none of these are successful, there some old school stagecraft methods using frames and such to build a circular stair that is not open underneath. HTH.

 

[JohnD]

Do you need a spiral staircase with the center pole? Or a curved staircase, AKA double helix or winder?
If it is a spiral staircase you might check out this guys plans:
Spiral stair plans. Spiral stairs crafted in wood.
Also, check out the other links there for winder stairs.
If you do need spiral stairs, don't forget to check out craigslit.org in building materials, not uncommen to find very cheap metal ones.

 

[Van]

I could sketch something for you if you give me some dimensions. I've built steel, steel and wood and just wood. The easiest way for a theatrical application is to laminate luan. Building up layer upon layer of 1/8" around the outside of the stairs. It is not fast, it is not easy. It takes a lot of patience and humbly, a master carpenter. It also requires quite a bit of room in a shop and a couple of folks or a whinch to move it around.

 

[Teber]

If you come pick it up in Fort Wayne, Indiana -- I can rent you a Steel Spiral Staircase. PM me if you are interested

 

[jonliles]

I could sketch something for you if you give me some dimensions. I've built steel, steel and wood and just wood. The easiest way for a theatrical application is to laminate luan. Building up layer upon layer of 1/8" around the outside of the stairs. It is not fast, it is not easy. It takes a lot of patience and humbly, a master carpenter. It also requires quite a bit of room in a shop and a couple of folks or a whinch to move it around.

Van-
8FT tall, normal stair width (32 to 36 inches). Thanks!

 

[jonliles]

Thanks for the responses. I will definitely check out Craigslist (not sure why I did not think of it). I have managed to find one in Atlanta not far from the school. Now just need to find one more or build one more. We are looking at true spiral staircases around a central support.

 

[kicknargel]

In Yale's "Technical Design Solutions for Theatre" Volume 2, which is a collection of their "Technical Brief" publication (which is my very favorite trade reading) there is a great article entitled "A No-Weld Spiral Staircase." Buy the book--you won't be sorry.

Amazon.com: Technical Design Solutions for Theatre: The Technical Brief Collection Volume 2 (9780240804927): Ben Sammler, Don Harvey: Books

 

[cdub260]

Winding back the clock twenty years or so to my high school days, we did a production of A Street Car Named Desire. The set design required a spiral staircase. We did not have the shop facilities to build one, so we either borrowed or rented one from a local college which had one in their stored scenery.

Check in your area and see if anyone already has one you might be able to use.