I am making some newel posts and I want to do something more than just plain joinery. Initially box joints or dovetails popped into my head but I dont think those joints lend themselves to edge joints along the grain of the wood. Does anyone have any ideas? I have structural 4×4 posts set and want to wrap them with cherry but prefer not to just wrap them and would like some decorative joint where the corners meet. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
Replies
Dovetails there would be pretty hazardous I think, what with the family traipsing up and down for years without proper rails while the work was being done. You might think about some sort of plinth on the corners. If you mitered them you could set the plinths as bevels on the corners creating a modified octagon profile. Lots of variations on this theme are possible and could be accomplished well within one mans lifetime too.
The last one I made was rift-sawn white oak. I used rabbet-dado joints for the corners. With the straight, rift-sawn grain, it's difficult to tell it isn't one piece.
I would recommend that joint for your columns. It's fairly easy to make on a table saw, and goes together easily. Use plenty of clamps when you glue it up.
Other joints that will work are a spline miter, or a lock miter if you have a shaper.
Good luck with it!
Rick W
My son just made a 14-foot newel post for a spiral staircase and used a lock-miter router bit. It works well, but requires a lot of setup tries and straight stock in a router table with hold downs. Good luck.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled