Darrous Handrail

Steel and timber handrails usually meet flush, and the joint opens within two winters as the oak moves and the steel does not. On the Darrous stair we stopped trying to hide that. The oak is set proud of the steel by six millimetres on every face, so the two materials never share a plane and the seasonal gap has nowhere to show.

The steel is a flat bar folded to a channel, blackened and waxed, welded to brackets set into the wall before plaster. The oak drops into the channel from above and is held by countersunk screws from beneath, so it can be lifted out and re-oiled without touching the steel. Twelve floors of it were fitted in nine days.