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1. 
   ErnieConover | May 09, 2006 02:55am | #1

   Making bed posts in two sections is usually necessary because of lathe size, but it also make moving the bed from room to room or house to house easier. Things to keep in mind when placing a joint are: the stress at the intended placement point, keeping the tenon size big enough to take this stress, and placing the joint at the transition point between elements on the turning. Most bed posts have a square section where the head or foot boards are mortised in and where the stretchers connect. While some posts are square all the way to the floor, others incorporate a turned leg and/or foot. For pencil posts it may be convenient to place a joint between the turned leg and the square section and another above the square section. Sometimes a finial is placed at the very top of the post as a separate item as well, for it provides easy concealment of chucking. In this case the lower joint should incorporate a healthy tenon diameter and the tenon should be liberally glued. The upper joint is seldom structural and not gluing the tenon to allow for easy movement makes sense. The same goes for a finial.

   The only jig you really need is your lathe. I cover making concealed joints in considerable depth in my Taunton Press book Turning for Furniture and also in the Taunton video tape of the same name.

   With best regards,
   Ernie Conover