For a carpenter this wouldn't have been a problem but I had to give it quite a bit of thought. In the end it came good for me and the customers were as happy as Larry. I can see a lot of their neighbours wanting to get rid of their old ranch style stair rails and go for Fusion. Now I have got my head around the problem solving aspect it would be a much easier to do a second one. Since this installation Burbidge has introduced a stainless steel version which is more up to date than this gold look.

THINGS I KNOW NOW I WISH I HAD KNOWN THEN

• Remember that the hand rail goes beyond the centre line of the bottom newel post so don't cut it too short.
• The hand rails and newel post are the same material so if the off- cuts work out for you there is no need to buy the posts.
• The timber is sanded and lacquered so it is impossible to fill and sand fixing holes. Customers will home in on any nicks and scratches once the job is done so handle the components really carefully. I used the corrugated cardboard to protect the rail from the Workmate jaws when sawing to length.
• There are no covers for the ends of the existing sawn off newel posts so you need to think of a way to cover the end grain. Two pack filler would do if you sand it but I made up little MDF plates. Richard Burbidge suggests tapering the newel ends as with a traditional turned newel.
• Cut the old posts off square only if they are upright. These old posts were twisted and leaning badly so a square cut would have given me a leaning tower of Pisa. I had to compensate on the cut to get the new newels to sit up straight on the old post stump.
• Some people let their cats rule their lives so I had to work around him.