After six years the posts on our front porch need to go. Several are
rotting and the rest are coming apart where the sundry tiny scraps of
wood were finger jointed together to create something that mimicked a
board.

Hollow or solid? I've read that columns should be hollow and vented top
and bottom to allow moisture to escape. These will be 5" x 5" X 96",
replacing the somewhat skimpy looking solid 4x4's. Is a hollow center a
good idea on posts of this size?

What wood? White pine seems to be the long time favorite around here
(Massachusetts). I've got a call in to a local sawmill for information
on their material. Any better choices? I don't much fancy turning knotty
wood--knots in softwood are like turning rocks. I priced western red
cedar this afternoon and while it was very nice, and I bought some to
make some garden ornaments for SWMBO it ran from $4.50-$6.50 a board
foot for the OK to really nice material. (It was even worse at the
Despot, where the "1X's" were barely a half inch thick and they don't
stock 2X material. At that price Teak or mahogany start to look
competitive! --but painting them would be painful. I'm *really* not
anxious to turn treated SYP from the Despot, but would like something
more rot resistant the junk the cheapo builder installed.

Thanks,
Roger

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.

--
Bill

Bill Grumbine
www.wonderfulwood.com
www.enter.net/~ultradad

"Roger" wrote in message
...
After six years the posts on our front porch need to go. Several are
rotting and the rest are coming apart where the sundry tiny scraps of wood
were finger jointed together to create something that mimicked a board.

Hollow or solid? I've read that columns should be hollow and vented top
and bottom to allow moisture to escape. These will be 5" x 5" X 96",
replacing the somewhat skimpy looking solid 4x4's. Is a hollow center a
good idea on posts of this size?

What wood? White pine seems to be the long time favorite around here
(Massachusetts). I've got a call in to a local sawmill for information on
their material. Any better choices? I don't much fancy turning knotty
wood--knots in softwood are like turning rocks. I priced western red cedar
this afternoon and while it was very nice, and I bought some to make some
garden ornaments for SWMBO it ran from $4.50-$6.50 a board foot for the OK
to really nice material. (It was even worse at the Despot, where the
"1X's" were barely a half inch thick and they don't stock 2X material. At
that price Teak or mahogany start to look competitive! --but painting them
would be painful. I'm *really* not anxious to turn treated SYP from the
Despot, but would like something more rot resistant the junk the cheapo
builder installed.

Thanks,
Roger

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

In article ,
"Bill Grumbine" wrote:

Hi Roger
I would like to add to Bill's excellent advice.
Do not caulk around the bottom but instead allow water to drain by
cutting 1/4" x 1/4" grooves across the end grain of the bottom of the
post.
What ever wood you choose make sure you apply a paintable wood
preservative (preferably by immersion) to the bottom 2-3 feet of each
post before painting.
If you go solid with laminated stock splitting should not be a problem.

--
Remove no & spam to email

meet me at:
http://peterhyde.bravehost.com/

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.

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

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 Grumbine wrote:
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.

Darrell Feltmate wrote:
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.


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

Thanks

Jim wrote:
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


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

"Roger" wrote in message
news
Jim wrote:
I would personally use aluminum posts.
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)


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
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...60&cat=1,46168
joinery bits. Poly glue and a rope clamp -Spanish windlass type- should
make a good glueup. Remote mounting of the tailstock, with one of the
2x6's you use to maintain the distance clad up top as a tool rest is all
you'll need to turn from there. Truth is, at a couple dozen revolutions, a
block or smooth plane worked great. Better consistency than a gouge. Rest
the 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 resin
for years through the paint, since they're not resin-set, they're heavier'n
hell, and you can't just stick a urinal cake in the base every spring to
repel critters.

In article , troep wrote:
After six years the posts on our front porch need to go. Several are
rotting and the rest are coming apart where the sundry tiny scraps of
wood were finger jointed together to create something that mimicked a
board.

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?

In article , troep wrote:
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.

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?

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , troep wrote:

After six years the posts on our front porch need to go. Several are
rotting and the rest are coming apart where the sundry tiny scraps of
wood were finger jointed together to create something that mimicked a
board.


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?

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

Roger wrote:


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):

http://www.certainteed.com/CertainTe...Porch+Post.htm

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

(Remove -SPAM- to send email)

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