Tapered legs

[steven c newman]

Just wondering, how many here use their hand planes to taper legs? The "Shaker" table legs I make are usually done at the vise. I lay out the taper I need, start at the bottom, and work my way up. Last pass with the plane to finish the surface, rotate the blank and start the other "face". There was also a set that need to be "rounded over" on the outside corner. A little more time in the vise, with a plane, and a nice radius was made. I don't even have a "Tapering Jig" for the table saw, too many things can go wrong, at least for me. Just wondering.

[Tom Scott]

I don't. I will use either a hand saw or table saw (depending on my mood) to get them to rough shape and then finish with hand planes.

[Don Dorn]

I cut them for years on the tablesaw and never had a problem. I think that it just doesn't seem to be natural to push something through at an angle but I don't even know anyone where something went wrong.

Since going more to handtools, I'll draw it out and cut the majority with the bandsaw and then plane to the pencil line. I did a double taper on some legs for a Shaker candlestick table. A friend showed me a way to do it that that took less time to complete than it would have taken for me to make a jig for the planer or sander. I just took my #3 and started at the bottom and started feathering back. I had all three legs done in about a half hour - they looked great and it was fun.

[Stephen Cherry]

Jointer. finish with hand plane.

[steven c newman]

I tried the jointer route a few times, not really my "cup o'tea'. Once I built a jig like Norm Abram made, didn't like it much either. Seems I'd spend almost as much time cleaning up after the two ( jointer and tablesaw) as I did making the tapers. I just used a hand plane from the start. Seems to work better for me.

[Stephen Cherry]

I tried the jointer route a few times, not really my "cup o'tea'.

I understand, I'm not comfortable with it either, but it's fast, easy, and works pretty well. That said, it's not fun.

[Andrew Gibson]

I am finishing up a table right now that has tapered legs. They are 5/4 at the top and taper to 3/4 at the bottom. I think they are about 26" long or so.
I marked the cuts and sawed them out by hand then planed to the line with a #5. it took a little over an hour I would say to get all 4 legs done. I don't watch the clock when I am working so it might have taken longer.

I sawed out the taper by starting at the foot of the leg (I guess that is Kind of a no Brainer) then plained from "knee" to toe.

[Steve Branam]

I've cut the bulk of the waste off with a ripsaw, then finished with a #6. One cut with the handsaw does the work of many passes with the plane (though they are easy passes, so the work savings may not be all that much).

However, now that I've gotten some practice using jack planes with aggressively cambered irons, next time I might try taking the bulk off with the jack. One pass with the jack is probably equal to 8 or 10 passes with the jointer. As long as I keep it under control and don't overdo it hacking the surface to bits, it's probably several times faster than a handsaw. That would give the simplicity of planing it off, with the heavy removal capability of a handsaw.

[Robert Rozaieski]

I like to use a drawknife, then straighten and smooth it out with a try plane. Even a well set up jack doesn't hog off wood like a drawknife in these situations.

[Derek Cohen]

Tapering legs with a jointer plane is straight forward. When I was reviewing the Veritas BU Jointer I decided to do an "Alan Peters" and build a table using just the BUJ.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/The%20Veritas%20Lee%20Valley%20Bevel%20Up%20Jointe r_html_m5752045a.jpg

Just marked off the dimensions, opened the mouth and took deep shavings with a lower cutting angle, then closed it up and smoothed with a high angle blade.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/The%20Veritas%20Lee%20Valley%20Bevel%20Up%20Jointe r.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/The%20Veritas%20Lee%20Valley%20Bevel%20Up%20Jointe r_html_2b4ae8b9.jpg

Of course, tapered legs were not the only way the Shakers did it. I think that a tapered and turned leg is even more traditional. And since the Shakers were not shy about using machines, you could use a lathe ... after all the chisel is held in a hand.

A recent Shaker table ..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Furniture/Shaker%20table%20for%20Lynndy/Final3.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Gendron]

The same here, nothing faster than a draw knife and finished with jointer and smoother!!