Porch
Railings & Spindles
Preserving
homes of the past – for the future
Community
involvement has always been of great importance to those of us here at
Shopsmith. Our Dayton, Ohio community has been good to us…and we like
to think that we’ve been good for the community, as well. So, when we
heard about a group of community-minded people who were working on a very
special project, we decided to check it out for ourselves…and we’re
sure glad we did !
The DPWA (Dayton Philharmonic Women’s Association) s a fund-raising
organization that helps support the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Youth Orchestra
Endowment Fund and many other educational programs.
One of their latest endeavors has been lining up various companies around
town to sponsor and refurbish some of the fine historic homes in the Dayton
area. After some further investigation, we decided to get involved and team-up
with a talented Daytonian, Michael Brown of The Deciduous Tree, a long-time
Shopsmith friend and MARK V owner.
Michael is a master craftsman, and his company specializes in custom woodworking.
Together, we agreed with the DPWA to rebuild, with the help of an architect,
the porch railings and Spindles on a home that was built in 1869. As you can
see by the photograph, it was quite a project – 50 feet of a seven-piece
porch railing plus 175 custom-turned Spindles.
When we first went to visit with Michael, he was already using a full complement
of Shopsmith equipment, including a vital tool for a high-volume Spindle-turning
project like this – a Shopsmith Lathe Duplicator
.
You might never need to build anything this big for your home, but the idea
and plans will work just the same, no matter how large your porch (or similar
project) might be.
Getting Started
The first point of consideration on a project like this is stock selection.
You’ll need to use a wood that will stand up to changing temperatures
and weather conditions…that will resist potential abuse of all types…and
accept paint well. In our case, we selected poplar for its durability and
workability.
The amount of stock you’ll need will obviously depend on the total linear
feet of your particular project. So, in the Bill of Materials (and throughout
these plans), we will only be including thicknesses and widths when describing
the Spindles.
