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Stair Supplies

Newel Posts

by Andrew Kozlov

Newel posts act to anchor your staircase's balustrade assemblage. Newel posts can be wonderfully ornamented and handcarved to create an atmosphere of grace and elegance. They also serve a purely functional purpose. Indeed, newel posts are used in practically every kind of staircase, from modern spiral staircases to highly stylized and elaborate Victorian models.

Structurally, the newel post is critical to the balustrade assembly, in that it prevents the handrails from shaking when users grab onto them. The mechanics of how newel posts hold everything in place are complicated. Indeed, even experienced carpenters sometimes fail to anchor the handrails properly within the newel post assembly. As a result, the handrails don't feel particularly steady.

The Newel Post--The Anchor of Your Staircase

Sticking out over the edge of the newel post is something called the nosing, which is the edge of the final tread of the staircase. Some fancier newel posts are capped with carved designs to match the handrails.

One way to think about how newel posts structurally support the staircase is by analogy to bridge building. Bridge engineers tend to design their anchor posts to compensate for the stresses and constraints of all the mechanical components that weigh down the center of the bridge. Similarly, newel posts countenance the shifting forces at work on the above staircase assembly.

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