Well this thread got more views than I was expecting! I now feel bad for the blurry picture
To cap it off ... *cough* ... a few more photos
I should not be surprised but having clean straight cuts is a joy to TIG weld.
The hand rail is done* and as a learning exercise I am pretty sure I managed to mess up every step of the way from assuming the stairs were perfectly flat and parallel to each other, to mis-drilling one of the mounting holes in the concrete by a few millimeters. Luckily, these stairs will be covered up by the deck when it gets rebuilt. I did get in a lot of TIG welding though, including a lot of out of position work.
*completed handrail not shown as the back of my house is not very flattering at the moment

Thank you for your interest!