Architectural Wood Turnings

I’ll begin by defining some of the parts used in stairways.

• Newels – The main supporting columns that support the handrail.
• Balusters – The vertical pieces (smaller than newels) that support the hand rail. They usually attach to the treads in twos and threes though occasionally they attach to a small knee wall that rises above the treads.
• Treads – or steps are what is walked on.
• Risers – The vertical pieces below the treads
• Handrails – see drawing.

These are the basic of basic parts. There are lots more but we’ll deal with those in a later resource.