Box Newel Posts

[Steven Triggs]

I am considering making some box newel posts for a stairway out of walnut. The ones I'd like to make will be similar to the attached picture. Does anyone have any experience or advice regarding these?

Thanks

227353

[Jay Jolliffe]

Richard Wolf is the man to ask on here. He does stair's....Buy looking at what you want to do they look relatively pretty easy. I don't know your experience or tooling though....

[Richard Wolf]

Box newels of that type are fairly easy to build, the design doesn't show any raised or flat panels. The biggest concern is how you will handle the box corners. A lock miter is my 1st choice, but set up can be tricky and you need to have the ability to run the lock miter the full length of the post, which should be 42" or longer if you need to lap the post at the bottom. A plain miter will also work, maybe some biscuits to help with aliment.
The box should be 4 3/4" square on the main top section and 6 1/4" for the bottom section and top cap. I would suggest you make some square hardwood blocks which will fit inside the main box to keep it square during glue up time.
Any other questions, please ask.