Pull Posts into Position
If you don't have clamps on hand, use a turnbuckle to pull posts together.
This simple, old-school turnbuckle is useful for pulling two stubborn things together, be they posts, walls, or whatever you have on the job site that needs straightening. It’s especially handy if you don’t have clamps on hand or if the two objects are a long distance apart.
First, take a rope and wrap it around both posts. Then put a scrap board in the middle of the loop. You don’t want the board centered in the loop; one end should stick farther out, as shown in the drawing. Rotating the board shortens the loop, pulling the ends together. When everything is in position, brace the long end of the board against something stable, in this case the deck.
—Gerret Wikoff, Los Angeles
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
Published in Fine Homebuilding #307
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Now we need an equally simple way to push posts apart, one that is as adaptable to differing lengths and that allows fine adjustment of the amount of push.