I began this 4 fluted hollow spiral baluster project with 12 Home Depot 34 inch Oak balusters. They were hand picked, and I thought pretty nice. I did a 4 flute twist on them with a Craftsman Router Crafter and was pleased. That is until I got the Maple balusters, very nice seconds, all I could afford from Ebay. Work stopped on the 1 1/4 inch oak balusters and began on the Maple 1 3/4 inch balusters. This picture speaks for that decision. Click on the image for a larger view.

 

Next I added the hollowing cut inside the first cut on the baluster. As you can see in the image, this cut leaves a rough side and end on the flute. Very unsightly and in need of removal. The second cut added another 15 minutes labor to each baluster. I also broke 2 special router bits costing $15 each but devised a method of preventing breakage and completed 15 balusters without breaking a bit. Also note the stem in the center after the cut. The baluster on the left has had this stem removed as well as the rough side has been smoothed. Click the image for a better view.

First I remove the center stem. The electric sander does a fine job of removing the ridges on the side of the flute. Some filing by hand smoothes the rough flute sides. This sanding process adds another 1 1/2 hours labor to each baluster. They look a lot better. You can click the image if you want. There's nothing exciting about this picture. Sanding these hollow spirals is difficult and hard on the electric sander. I wore a sander out after 19 balusters were completed. At $78 a sander, I'll have to find a method to preserve the life of the sander. So I found a short stroke air file. It's a bit heavy and more awkward. It does the job and hasn't failed. It also does quick removal of wood for shaping.

A rotary tool with a mill like cutter is used to remove the ridges at the ends of the flute. Much care is needed to avoid damages to the baluster with this tool. The air file is efficient in this area also. This adds another 3/4 hour to the labor on each baluster. This image can be clicked on also.

I clean up any chatter marks on the first cut flute edge with a flapwheel sander in the rotory tool. It is also used to clean up the outer edge of the flute and any burn marks left in the ends of the first cut flute. Some balusters were worse than others but the average time needed to smooth this area is 1/2 hour each baluster. 4 flapwheels at $3 each were used. Care is needed to prevent damage to the surface of the baluster. No rejects resulted.

Once the flutes are cleaned up, the entire baluster needs hand sanded and the flapwheel in the rotory tool is used in the recessed areas. This is seen in the photo. The baluster has many machine marks, chips, and discoloring from machining, handling and mother nature. I averaged 3 hours labor hand sanding on each baluster using 80 and 120 grit sandpaper. It's a drag but it must be done. It may be faster to do this on the woodlathe before starting but that time would be wasted on a rejected baluster and would likely have to be done again anyhow due to handling and injury from mistakes. This makes the outdoor paint grade balusters into indoor paint grade balusters.

Next I prepared the balusters for an inlay. I used 6 inlay strips that were $7 a strip and cut them into 88 inlays 1 3/4 inch long for the groove I added to the 22 balusters. Each of the 88 pieces were mitered using the homemade tool in the photo. Routing the groove in the baluster and mitering the inlay strips required 4 hours adding another 11 minutes to the average labor of one baluster.

The balusters are masked above and below the inlay groove to prevent glue from spreading outside the inlay groove after sanding the fuzzy stuff on the groove edges. The cut and mitered inlay are then glued in the groove and clamped. The average time to do this is 15 minutes each baluster, and then put aside for the glue to dry. An example of a baluster with the inlay is also shown.

At left is a group shot of the inlayed balusters after removing the clamps and masking tape and sanding and scraping the inlay and flat surfaces. Also the curve at the top of the flat sides was sanded with the electric file/sander. This added another 20 minutes to the time on each baluster. This is a very difficult twist. The twist arcs into the spindle creating a hollow spiral unique to the Craftsman Router Crafter. I call it a twisted twist. It brings out figure in the straightest of grains. It would be a shame to paint over this figure. The balusters were resanded, filed, or flapwheeled again with finer grits to get them to stain grade. This averaged 1 1/2 hours per baluster. Since there are three different shades of balusters, a natural finish would not be appropriate for these. I'd like to get an antique look and the flecked grain will help achieve this.