Dale, Couple of good ideas there. The first idea with the 2X6 and 2X4 attached to the outer face of the posts and the balusters nailed to the inner face is definitely a possibility.
I wonder what round balusters might look like. That would make the whole mortising thing a lot easier. No squaring off of holes. I assumed I would use 2X2 balusters with rounded corners so a smallish router bit would make squarish holes with rounded corners, but still a lot of work. Lastly, the pre-formed bottom rails I saw didn't have slots running the length of the 2X4. They were transverse, but not running all the way through from side to side. So, after sliding the baluster in from the edge, not the end, you would see all these notches in the edge of the 2X4 bottom rail. Looked really stupid to me. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (412) 268-9081
