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Our staircase was built over two centuries ago, and still does its job!
Do you have no fear of splinters‽ Cause I know those stairs would give me a splinter just by looking at them wrong
Hah! I don't know if it's because of how old the wood is, but it's not very splintery, it has a smooth fossilised feel even though it's so uneven.
Yeah, I'm sure anything that would have splintered off already has by now with how worn it looks. It shouldn't be an issue now unless a chunk breaks off.
Mmm, delicious non OSHA-compliance. No handrails, no problem!
I'm fascinated with those joints. Are they nailed at all, or is it just held together by gravity, friction and the exterior walls?
No nails, gravity and large wooden stakes / dowels. It's amazing to me that people made this by hand, and by the looks of it it was some exquisite craftsmanship, but it's still functional hundreds of years later, unlike most things created today.
Ah, the old style of woodwork. People have almost forgotten it now - really, anyone uninterested in history has, although the traditions lasted longer than you'd think - but nails were once expensive. Scraping things to fit and using wood's natural flexibility can get you a good way, and the fact it shrinks and hardens after being cut down can also be used to great effect. Although, in this case the fact the female part is a full log makes me somewhat doubtful greenwood techniques were used, aside from maybe to make the dowels.
They would have made this thing entirely without power tools as well (so it's no wonder they skipped the nice finish). Two centuries ago they probably were using modern hand saws and the like, although certain archaic tools like the drawknife could have been in their kit as well.
Looks dangerous as fuck but pretty cool!
How? We have stairs like this near a few pubs and restaurants. Though made of metal.
If you tripped, there's not much to grab onto, and it looks both steep and very uneven.
I would have no problem climbing this myself. Habitually climbing it carelessly and/or while burdened would present some risk, though, and it's probably not going to be great for grandma. We don't build like this anymore out of inclusion, a higher level of value on life and just not wanting or needing to have architecture that requires skill to use.