i'm looking for some advice on building wood porch columns from scratch. i want to make one that is about 10 to 12 feet tall and 12-15 inches in diameter. it will have a slight taper. i imagine this is similar to coopering a barrel--tapered staves connected around the circumference and the sharp corners planed smooth. i was hoping to find a web site that details the steps and maybe provides some rules of thumb for the angles and such. appreciate any such pointers. thanks.
Unless your like me (love to make it myself - even if it cost more) make a one-off column may be more trouble than its worth.
However, I witnessed a man in Tijuana Mexico make columns for his own home on a home-made lathe. He made the lathe from an old rear axel assembly mounted/welded to a 6" pipe that was embedded in concrete. He welded a pulley on the yoke and drove the system with a 10 HP gas compressor motor. The tail stock was another rear axel hub from a front wheel drive car. It was mounted on a tripod stand that was weighted down by sacks of dirt/rocks.
His tool rest was a jackstand that he moved up and down the column. His roughing gouge was a 1-1/2" x 4' iron pipe that he cut in half and sharpened. He claims he oil hardened it then tempered it in an old woodstove. What ever he did, it cut beautifully!
For wood, he was using old pallet pieces, 2"x 4"s, and what ever else he could find. He then cut them on his homemade bandsaw, planed them by hand and glued together with homemade hide glue. (I did not ask how he made it!) After he had the columns were turned to near size, he patched and holes and gaps with bondo/epoxy, then sanded primed and painted them. They really looked good!
I told myself, I could do that, if I ever needed columns for my house!
Dave that sounds pretty cool and I'd love to try that someday, but it seems more like an art project than a construction project. was his column a solid wood glue-up from all that scrap? sounds more like a telephone pole than a porch column. That thing must've required it's own footing :) I think the column needs to be hollow. Tom's suggestion for the birds-eye joinery seems to fit the bill. Thanks for the idea though (I wonder if I can convince my wife to let me build a monster lathe in the backyard?)
Looks like you do nice work Mark. unfortunately, i'm one of those idiots who just can't resist trying to do new things far removed from my own field of expertise (which I have yet to identify :). Thanks for the offer though.
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