I've got a lathe that can hold about 35" with the live centre, but I
want to turn bedposts 36" and 48" long. Obviously I'll have to do each one
in two or more sections. I can easily make a tenon on one end, but how do I
accurately make the receiving mortise (hole)? My drillpress has a capacity
of 16 1/2", minus whatever I lose for a forstner bit. I suppose I could
just try to drill it with the hand held drill, but I don't believe I could
get it drilled straight enough.

The obvious solution would be to just turn the posts in three sections,
but I'm not happy with that. My tailstock isn't designed to hold a chuck
and drill bit, so drilling on the lathe is out. Can you think of a better
way I can do this? I suppose I could just turn the tops of the posts and
use other techniques to fasten them to the square bottoms. I just have this
feeling I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

- Owen -

P.S. In case it makes any difference, I'm laminating 2 pine 2x4s to make
the blanks.