Cable Railing Replaces... What Were They Thinking?

I realized recently that I'm coming up on 10 months that I've been doing this. Single handedly restoring a house and learning the process as you go is time consuming and costly. Of course it's a fraction of the cost as if I were to hire out the process but I'm paying in time.

Anyway, this was a thing that I've been wanting to do forever and just never had a house. I love the sleekness of cable rail and I love the marriage of wood and metal. Finally, here was my chance to bring the skills of welding and woodworking together.

This is my "story pole" and jig to drill the holes exactly 3" apart in the posts.

You need to cut the cable with a grinder and use tape to keep it from fraying. 

I used my mill to drill out the rail and spacers and the center drill here made nice countersinks. 

Unlike typical architectural welding which is Mig I use Tig which is finer and more controlled. 

It's a slower process but the results are far nicer and neater. 

Cables cut and ready to be swaged with their threaded ends. 

I went with a clear stain to keep the lightness that is similar to the new cedar in the recess there. Countersinks neaten the look of the holes into the beam. 

The span is 3' between supports which is more than adequate to provent the theoretical 4" sphere from passing through. 

This is what it looked like when we first saw it. You have to see this to appreciate the next shot. 

This is truly a transformation that gives me hope and I keep going.