mission quadralinear construction

[Brian Knop]

Anyone ever make these legs by gluing; say ¼” quarter sawn white oak on to plywood? Than using a meter locking bit. I’m thinking that at only a ¼” thickness there wouldn’t be much if any wood movement.
Thanks

[Jamie Buxton]

The leg is probably 3"x3" square, or the like? If so, you can get away with darn near anything. Cross-grain expansion across 3" isn't enough to hurt you.

Me, I'd back the show lumber (the quartered white oak) with solid lumber, not plywood. I'd use cheaper oak, or poplar, or ash, or the like. I'd laminate the white oak to the substrate, and then trim the composite to width. Using solid lumber gets me a number of things. First, I can joint the mitered edge, so I get a nice thin glue line. Second, I get a great big glue face, so it is strong. Third, I don't have to argue with myself about cross-grain expansion differences between the plywood and the white oak.

Or if you use a lock miter joint, it cuts nicer in solid lumber than it does in plywood.

[Charlie Barnes]

When I made 2 mission coffee tables, I just ripped four pieces for each leg to width, beveled them at 45 degrees and glued them up. I didn't use a miter locking bit or anything other than glue. It was a little tricky clamping them, but I made a jig out of a couple of pieces of scrap plywood to help hold them while I got the clamps tightened. That was about 5 years ago and they're doing well so far.

[Brian Knop]

Sorry forgot, the legs will be 5".