a little advice

[Kevin C. Johnson]

hey anyone,
I have made a cradle for each of my kids I want to make them different. I'm wanting to turn the uprights. I want to make one 4 foot piece and split it in half for each upright endof the cradle. I have heard of a couple of ways of doing it need anyone's inputs

[Curt Fuller]

I'm not sure of the size you're considering but this is how I would do it if it were going to be say 3-4" diameter or larger and then split. I'd start with wood that is 2" x 4" x the length you want plus 4 inches. I would then glue them together to form 4" x 4" piece. To glue them, use a paper joint, apply glue to both pieces and put a sheet of paper between them for the length of the finished piece. Glue the 2" of extra at each end without the paper. Then you can turn it as a solid spindle. When you get it finished, cut the 2" that are glued solid off of each end and use a chisel to split the glue joint. With a little sanding to remove the paper and glue from the edges of the joint you should end up with two identical pieces.

Or you can turn it from a solid piece of wood and cut it with a bandsaw. But that leaves a lot more work to clean up the cut down the center.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kevin I have only did it once for my brother but did it just like Curt described. It works pretty slick.

[Kevin C. Johnson]

thank you all I thought this is how it was done I just have not heard of gluing each end with out the paper; sounds much safer the way you described. I will be starting the project soon,
thanks
Kevin