Paul Leuba
I've had good luck using a steady rest in turning 3/4" oak blanks 24" long for Windsor chair spindles between centers where the diameter off the thinest part off the lath is 1/2". I then go to a shave horse and spoke shave to finish the thin part of the spindle to about 3/8" to 7/16". I move the steady rest a couple times from near the tail stock (thin part of the spindle) to near the head stock as I work in that direction. My preferred cutting tool for this is a skew.

Paul in Hunt Valley, MD