Building Stairs with Stock Parts by Bill McLearn Part II: Balusters, Newels, and Handrails Figure 1. The handrail for this staircase starts with a spiral volute with an attached easement. The easement allows the volute to attach to the straight rail in an uninterrupted curve. At the top, another easement makes the transition into the gooseneck, which in turn butts into the landing newel. Ed. note: This is the second in a two-part story on building stairs with stock parts. Part 1, covering the finish skirts, treads, and risers, ran last month. St o c k balustrade s y s t e m s come in a variety of styles from s e v e r a l manufacturers. I use Morgan parts b e c a u s e I've had good results
