In particular, Peter, a neighbour, who has been making handrails for our projects for some years. A skilled craftsman and retired marine electrical engineer who, among other hobbies restores engines for old Austin 7’s. He has the sort of practical mind and skills to give anything a crack (including inventing a tensioning device for oyster lines…)

Anyway I was talking to Peter one day about a project we were doing and somehow ended up discussing how to detail connections on a handrail made from 16mm brass we wanted to make. The next day Peter knocked on my door with an idea and he’d bent a bit of aluminium bar and tapped a thread in to show you could make a strong connection without braising.

Before you knew it he was giving the rail a crack in brass on the actual project. He fashioned brackets from brass pipe sleeved over the threaded rod, found some brass washers at Bunnings that he machined to make a neat plate at the post connection and then tapped thread into the handrail bar to get a secure fixing.

It was a pain to install and get the bend right round the winder (using a plumbers pipe bender) and he swore never to do one again!

We are now on to our 6th handrail and have the method down pat on all sorts of conditions.

Cheers Peter – you’re a legend!