I am in need of 2 7 foot poles to hold up string lights on my patio that I can stain. It appears there is nothing on the market even close to this so I'm going to build it myself. Seems easy enough - get 2 8/4 pieces of saepele or similiar, route a 1" deep by 1" wide grove on both pieces and then glue together. To prevent rot I'm thinking of pouring a small concrete base and mounting the wood on top of that so no ground contact.

Sound like im on the right track? Seems too easy and I'll discover something I'm not considering....