Turned porch posts

Hi Roger

I don't know about all the trouble to turn hollow posts. We have an old farmhouse in eastern PA, built ca. 1800-1830. There are square posts on the ground level and on a second floor porch that look to be original to the house. On the front porch we took down last fall due to the roof falling apart, the posts looked to have been installed ca. 1900, judging by their style (Victorian) and by the house being purchased by a family which owned it from 1901 to 1999. All the posts were solid, and all were in good shape except for the half posts against the stone wall. There were a few mushy sections, but they were small and easily fixed if I had wanted on the Victorian posts. But, SWMBO wants square posts that are more in keeping with the original style of the house. For the new front porch I am planning on using Spanish cedar, which is available locally in 8/4, laminated to 16/4 and (gasp!) painted to match the rest of the trim on the house.

So, I guess my question is, how old are you now, and how long do you expect to live after turning these posts? I am closing in on 50 years old, and if I can turn some posts that I can reasonably expect to last the next 50 years, that is good enough for me. I figure I will either have enough money to have someone else worry about it then, or I will be too feeble to care (if indeed I live that long).

Also, if you are interested in some techniques for turning a long post, I have a page on my personal site (URL below) with pictures detailing the turning of a 14' sailboat mast between two lathes.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I would personally use aluminum posts. If you do put up anything hollow, make sure you get good screening over any openings. I've had to replace old posts & some had huge bees nests in them. I wouldn't use a solid post because most of them split at some point & they're heavy & hard to install.

Jim

The last porch posts I turned, I turned in two sections since my lathe does not allow that long a piece. They were made from solid spruce logs in the same manner as the posts still on the porch. These are about a century old and still solid. I let the posts sit for about three weeks and then filled the resultant splits with fitted wood wedges and body filler. While visiting in England last fall I saw some posts in the Tower of London that had been repaired in the same fashion. Once the posts were painted, no problem.

Well, if the first set had lasted longer than six years I might not be so concerned about it. I definitely plan to live that long!

Your setup is similar to what I've used for long turnings in the past-- fo rreally long things I clamp my tailstock in my workbench and have a very heavy old toolrest stand I can position wherever I want. Since these will be a bit under eight feet I think I'll probably just extend the bed on my lathe--one of the advantages of using wooden ways, a couple of good 2x8s and instant long bed!

Roger

Bill Grumb> Hi Roger

A very interesting possibility! I can get logs a whole lot cheaper than dimension stock.

Thanks

I suppose I'd do that if my hobby were extruding aluminum, but I feel pretty strongly about having a few things about the house indicate that a woodworker lives here. Although it's a new house our goal is to have peole look at it and think it was the old farmhouse left in the middle of the McMansions. (Helps that is was the smallest house in the development)

We have wasps something awful behing all the shutters, so the sdvice on screening is well taken!

Thanks, Roger

development)

So much for my suggestion. Since they're decorative only, get the ones made of that fiber/plastic stuff. No more worries, and they come primed.

If you're hot to turn, help yourself on the glueup with these

bits. Poly glue and a rope clamp -Spanish windlass type- shouldmake a good glueup. Remote mounting of the tailstock, with one of the2x6's you use to maintain the distance clad up top as a tool rest is allyou'll need to turn from there. Truth is, at a couple dozen revolutions, ablock or smooth plane worked great. Better consistency than a gouge. Restthe heel of it on the "toolrest," and skew it to the direction of rotation.The reason I wouldn't want fresh-cut conifer is that they'll bleed resinfor years through the paint, since they're not resin-set, they're heavier'nhell, and you can't just stick a urinal cake in the base every spring torepel critters.

Are you talking about short posts to hold up a railing, or long posts that hold up the roof? If the latter... Home Depot sells them already made, in several different sizes. Nominal 5" square x 8' long is $69. Hardly worth making your own, at that price. I'm guessing that they probably sell the shorter posts, too, but I haven't seen them.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Sadly, the next person to buy your house won't even *notice*, let alone care, that you turned your own posts.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

The long posts that hold up the roof. I suspect the ones that are rotting and delaminating are exactly the ones from the HD. (they look the same at any rate). I expect to live here long enough that at the rate they're failing I'll have to replace them another couple of times before I'm done, and that's just pure irritation.

Roger

Have you given any thought to using an aluminum reinforced vinyl post. An example would be CertainTeed at (watch for word wrap):

I feel that wood, like any other material, has its place. IMO, supporting columns on a porch isn't one of them. I really like the exterior shell of my house to be as maintenance free as possible. Gives more time in the shop to play with wood. Depending on where it is & your weather, exposed wood has this annoying habit of needing a fair amount of maintenance. Your call, of course & my opinion is worth what you paid for it. :-)

Jim