A photograph will do
A clean, square-on shot with the whole part in frame. This covers the great majority of work: balusters, table legs, foot rails, porch spindles, anything with a shape you can see the outline of.
Shop Drawings
A measured drawing of your spindle, within a day. One photograph and one known dimension is all we need to start. You get back a proper elevation with every diameter and every length on it, at a scale your workshop can work from, so the next person to make one gets it right.
Forty dollarsflat, whether the part is a chair leg or a porch post
Three we made earlier
Not mock-ups. These are real sheets, drawn by the same process that will draw yours, each from a measured outline and one known dimension. Every diameter and every length is called out, the scale is stated, and it comes out at 11 by 17.
SP-001Rope-Twist Spindle2″ wide, 21″ overall
SP-002Turned Post1 3/4″ wide, 35 1/8″ overall
SP-003Fluted Taper Baluster2 3/8″ wide, 39 3/8″ overall
What we need from you, and what you get back
What you send
- A photographsquare on, whole part
- One dimensionany one you know
- Which part it isthe widest point
- Species if you knowoptional
What you get
- A dimensioned elevationto scale
- Every diameterstation by station
- Every lengthchained, and total
- A printable fileyours to keep
One dimension, really. A spindle is a solid of revolution, so one true size scales everything else off the outline. That's the whole trick: you don't need to measure twelve stations with calipers. You need one number you're sure about, and a photograph taken square on.
The promise
Drawings in 24 hours.*
* End of the next business day after we receive a photograph and one known dimension. If the photograph won’t support a measurement, we say so the same day and tell you exactly what would, which is usually the part itself. A drawing's only worth making if it's right, so we'd rather tell you we can't read it than hand you a confident number. Nothing is charged until you've sent the photograph and we've confirmed we can read it.
When a photograph is not enough
It usually is. Now and then it isn’t, and the difference is worth knowing about before you pay anything.
A photograph plus a tape measure
Lay a tape alongside the part and shoot both together. It costs you nothing and it makes the scaling airtight, because we can read the tape at the same time as the outline.
The part itself
A turned twist, a carved surface, or anything you need matched to a hair is better measured in the hand. Post it to us, or bring it in. We will measure it properly and tell you what it is.
Start with a drawing
Send us the photograph and the one dimension you know. We will come back with the sheet.
Not sure we can read your photograph? Send it first and we will tell you before you pay anything.
Or skip straight to the parts
If you already know you need twelve of them, ask for a price on the turned work instead, and the drawing comes with it, free, because we need it to quote you anyway.