How to remove stair spindles from rails

Question

I am planning a project to replace wooden stair spindles (with metal ones) but not sure how to remove them from the base and hand rails (pics). Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

After the filler (fillets) pieces are removed the baluster should come out easily. When that is done you can see how the rest are held in place and a small pry bar is all you will need to remove the remaining fillers.

After it is all removed, you could drill the metal balusters in the recess left over, but it would be better looking in my opinion to add a new solid one piece filler and drill through that and set the new balusters with "shoes" on top.

You will need to drill the top in deeper than the bottom so you can set the baluster into the top first extra deep, so it will go in the bottom and not fallback out at the top.

The top will need caulk or something like that in the upper hole first, and perhaps in the bottom hole too, so it will not rattle too badly when it is nudged.