Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Hardwood stair question

I'd like to replace the two carpeted staircases in the house (3-story home) with wood. I prefer the look of real wood to laminate. I am also on an extremely tight budget (part of the fun!) so I am looking for non-standard solutions if they will save $$ and still look great.

I read in another thread you can get hand-sawn looking planks that can be oiled rather than poly'ed. I would prefer this since we have oiled log walls, it would hide the pet nail scratches, it's not as slippery, and I like the distressed look anyway.

Could I simply use a quality wood in the appropriate widths and thickness, hand distress and oil the wood, and attach it to the stair framework? Or is there some special cut that is required for stairs?

Thanks DIYers!

If by "cut" you refer to wood species, not really. A harder wood will last longer and require refinishing less often, but softer woods such as pine will work. How do you intend to handle the nose of the step? Customarily, a manufactured stair nose is used, but they're a bit pricey. You could use a router to round over the leading edge of the tread. I wouldn't advise leaving it square. Traffic will cause the wood to round itself in a somewhat untidy manner and the sharp edge could be painful.

I am not looking for a specific species, just wondering if I can use non-specialized stair pieces to use for the treads and risers. Thanks for the tip on the nose, I didn't think of that! Could I use 1/2 round trim on the front of each tread maybe?

Buy a cheap router... $12 Harbor Frieght Tools
and a couple of profile bits.

Update: the problem resolved itself. A friend's dad is an ex-handyman and a packrack. (The kind of packrat that winds up on the local late night news because they called 911 and the firefighters couldn't find the homeowner because there was so much stuff...) Anyway he finally is letting the kids clean out the house, and in the front half of the garage we found a truckload of unfinished, perfectly good hardwood strip flooring, mostly oak, with odds and ends of brazilian rosewood and cherry.

So now I get to install real hardwood on my stairs! And Dad is elated some of his collection is going to a good home.

Great score!! Have fun. A trick I saw one time you may want to store for later consideration if the need arises. I was hired to carpet a set of steps several years ago that were pretty unusual. The steps were some sort of hard wood and the homeowner loved the look, but had grown weary of the hard feel on the bare feet and wanted a softer feel but something different than the usual cover it all up or do a runner down the middle. So they used a router and created an indented area in the center of each step that was just deep enough to accommodate a piece of carpet and had me cut and inlay carpet in these areas. Just carpet, no pad. They still had the look of the finished wood but with a softer place to step and it looked really good. Just food for thought.