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.

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God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com