How to build your own telegraph poles...
Norm Charbonneau 07.14.03
I decided to scratchbuild my own lineside telegraph poles for my layout. Some of the methods you may find useful.
The parts list consists of items that can be obtained from Michael's or other craft/hobby stores. Simply pick up some 1/4" dowel, some 3/32" square basswood strip, a 1000-count pack of straight pins, a few packs of clear, clear green, white, and/or brown (depending on your preference) Indian seed or Rochaille beads, some white glue and some Polly S Railroad Tie Brown. The beads I mentioned can be found at Michael's under the Westrim Crafts brand name, style 140.
Start with deciding on what type of pole you want. I decided to do a classic railroad telegraph pole with three crossarms and multi-colored insulators like the one at the top. Cut the dowel to whatever height you'd like. The one I am making below is roughly 8" tall. Take a hacksaw blade, preferably fine toothed, and run it lengthwise down the dowel to give it some 'grain'.
Now, mark the spacing of the crossarms in relation to the height of the pole. I went with 5/16" from the top, then 1/2" between the arms. After making the marks, take your hacksaw, zona saw, or a sharp razor and notch a 3/32" to 1/8" wide channel across the pole, maybe about 1/16" deep. Insert a straight pin into the pole with some needle nose pliers and cut it to 1/8" or so. This will help seat the crossarms.
Next, start assembling the crossarms. I decided on a 2 1/2" (10 scale foot) wide arm with 8 insulators spaced 1/4" apart. Cut the strip, then mark a center hole on the front and the insulator positions on the top using a Sharpie. Take a thumbtack and pre-punch all the holes. This will make inserting the insulator armatures easier. Take some more straight pins and insert them into the holes. You may want to trim them down to roughly 1/8" or leave them longer. Slip the beads over the armatures, fasten with white glue and trim off the excess armature length if any. Please wear safety glasses when cutting the straight pins!
Carefully install the crossarm onto the pole using a dab of white glue. If you pre-punched the center hole of the crossarm well enough, it should slide over the pin and settle into the notch with a little mechanical resistance. If you get it just right, you can then tweak the position of each crossarm to make them as straight or as crooked as you want.
I wasn't quite sure how I'd do this next detail at first. The best solution I found was to take another straight pin and bend it 90 degrees in the middle. Cut off the the head and the point and you have yourself a nice scale-looking set of crossarm supports.
Using some needle-nose pliers, carefully place each one and allow to dry.
Painting and weathering can pretty much happen during any step in the process you're comfortable with. I wait almost until the end and then I apply a thinned wash of Polly S Railroad Tie Brown. I then pick out the crossarm supports and the 'bolts' at the crossarm centers with Grimy Black. I then proceed to the layout and plant it!
This little project would lend itself quite well to an assembly-line approach. I have been building these one at a time to fit their spots on the layout and can usually whip them out in an hour or so but mass-producing the crossarms for instance would drastically cut the time down.