Porch Finials on Summit

One of Tom's customers asked him to recreate eleven (11) large finials on his exterior porches (first and second floor) and exterior hand railing. Tom owns a lathe and he was happy to have an out-of-the-ordinary job to do. He made the finials out of cypress wood, because cypress has natural oil and exterior finials made from an oily wood will last at least three times longer than ones made of pine. It took him 3 weeks in his Selby Avenue shop to turn the finials. The photo below shows the finials after they were turned; the last item before delivery is always priming the wood with oil paint.

When they were delivered, his customer loved the new finials; he was very proud of them. Here they are sitting on Ed's Summit Avenue porch. There are two porches on the front of this house - one on the second floor and one on the first floor - with turned spindle railings on both porches.

The spindles were mostly in good shape, but the finials had split and cracked due to weather damage over the 100 years of the home's existence. Tom watched as his customer had the second floor porch floor (which was also the roof of the first floor porch) torn off and replaced, the railings removed, repaired, and replaced. And finally Tom's beautiful eleven (11) finials were placed on top of the newell posts. They were only primed and not painted when this photo was taken.

And here are the finials after they were installed and painted.