spindlework
Decorative porch railings
Spindlework is decorative woodwork featuring turned spindles—slender, shaped wooden posts made on a lathe.
It appears on staircases, porch railings, and Victorian furniture, where rows of spindles create ornamental patterns: The old house had elaborate spindlework on the front porch.
The term encompasses both the individual spindles and the overall decorative effect they produce.
lathe
Rotating shaping machine
finial · balustrade · staircase · railing · woodturning · turner · chisel · gouge · mandrel · furniture
whorl
Spiral arrangement of ridges
flyer · bobbin · roving · drafting · yarn · ply · handspun · skein · fleece · fiber