Taper a leg, handplanes only?

[steven c newman]

here is a little question for the Neanderthal out there:


taper a leg, using just a few hand planes? Anyone other try this? Just mark a line on a leg blank, and plane to the line, repeat for a second taper, and do another leg? :confused:


Plane sizes you used? ( not concerned about who made them, just the sizes) Did you need sandpaper when done? Or, maybe a spokeshave? Scraper?


Or, just too much work? :D

[Prashun Patel]

Not too much work depending on the degree of your taper. In fact, if you want to round the corners or make a round, tapered leg, a spokeshave and planes can do it pretty quickly.

In fact, I think planing a taper on a leg is easier in some ways than planing a board flat. You'll see that when you try it.

[Tony Wilkins]

I'm doing the Shaker side table from C. Schwarz DVD and he tapers the legs. He simply draws the taper on one side and uses a #5 to work it down - the proceeding to exactly the same way with the second taper. For the first demonstration he cuts saw kerfs down to the line along the way to give a more visual reference.

[Zach Dillinger]

Very easy to do. Shouldn't need to sand but don't feel bad if you do. Start with a coarse set plane (straight iron, not cambered, iron should be wider than the leg) and finish with a jointer, smooth plane if necessary but you can probably get an acceptable finish with your jointer. There really aren't too many things that are easier to do.

[Chris Hachet]

Building three shakerish tables, for my living room, 1 two drawer, two one drawer, planning on using hand planes and tapering legs just like you guys are talking about.....

[Floyd Mah]

If you are intent on only using hand tools, how about removing most of the waste with a saw cut, trimming close to the final dimensions with a scrub plane if you are still far off (you know, the one that you bought a while back for the sake of completeness, but haven't used yet) and then pulling out the Stanleys and planing to the final dimensions. This sounds like a brute force method, but I just did this on the weekend to trim a fence post to fit a pre-existing fence hole. I don't see why it wouldn't work. You don't get the satisfaction of making shavings only, but then you can get on with your project in the shortest time.

[Dave Parkis]

I made a pair of end table using only hand tools. I used a #5 to get close and then switched to a #4. I probably could have finished with the #5, but I didn't want the #4 to feel neglected. It was surprising how quickly it went. Just be sure to draw your lines before you start.

[Jim Koepke]

Been there, done that, likely to do it again.

Start with short strokes at the foot end and work back. It is a good idea to have some lines to work to so you know when to stop.

Mark a center on the bottom, put an X from corner to corner to help keep the taper square.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

One note in agreement with the above;

mark out a square at the bottom of the leg, where the foot reaches the ground.
This mark can be carried to the sides and will remain when you plane off a face.

When you're all done, an additional chamfer around the foot will keep the leg from splitting if the table is dragged.

If you're daring, a great deal of this can be done with a drawknife.
When I taper legs, I bandsaw close to the line and plane them all together for consistency.

[Tony Wilkins]

Jim, I'd thought about using my drawknife to start out but I'm not sure I'm daring enough. I should be starting on the legs soon - just got some long rips to get the right grain out of 8/4. *Ask me later if I regret not buying a band saw.

[lowell holmes]

I have an extra 10tpi crosscut saw that I refiled to rip cut. It will rip the legs close to the line very fast and it stays on the line.

You might want to try it.

I have the LV saw sharpening file holder. It works great. You can set the rake exactly at 8 degrees. I'm thinkng about refiling it with 10 degree rake.

It cuts faster than I want.

[Lowell Smith]

I used my bench, a 1/4 inch board and clamps to shoot the taper. This worked fairly quickly on 1 1/4 inch legs.

[Jim Neeley]

"When you're all done, an additional chamfer around the foot will keep the leg from splitting if the table is dragged."

+1 on this.

My approach would depend some on the amount of the taper but mostly on the material being used. By this I mean that if I was tapering 26" out of a 32" leg from 1-1/4" sq to 1/2" or 3/4" I'd be more inclined to use my scrub than a hand saw although there's nothing wrong with the saw.

More significantly though, if it was rock maple or harder I'd lean towards the saw, if soft like cherry I'd start with my #6 and switch to a scrub if itwas going too slow, but I doubt it.

That's just me though; there's nothing wrong with the #5 approach on hard wood if you have it set up with a good camber and are in good shape! :-)

[Jim Matthews]

I would be very interested to see your efforts with a drawknife documented here.

It's an under-utilized tool, even in my shop.
There's a video of Jim Tolpin wading through some stock (for a panel, if I recall) that was an eye-opener.

I'm not thinking of near perfect use as with fine chair makers, like Brian Boggs, but employing it as a pocket bandsaw - with one big tooth.


FYI - The little 9" POS bandsaws at your local Borg? They're awesome. With a sharp blade, they can be surprisingly good.

[Jim Matthews]

I used my bench, a 1/4 inch board and clamps to shoot the taper. This worked fairly quickly on 1 1/4 inch legs.

Was the 1/4" board the guide?
Pictures would be good...

[steven c newman]

Ok, I have some 2x2 Black Walnut to make some legs out of. Laid out where the bottom of the aprons are, and added an inch.265138and set a 1" tall line for a foot265139anything above this line is waste. Conect the two with a straight edge265140Again, anything above the line is waste. Grabbed a cambered (ala Schwarz) Jack plane, and hogged down close to the line. Had a #6 with a non-cambered iron, so a few passes to remove any dippity-dos along the surface265141Then a swipe or two with a smoother265142just to remove any plane marks. Jaws on the old Monarch Vise are about 99% worn smooth, no marks. Lay out the other face for a taper, and repeat.

The Cambered jack plane? Ah yes, a Corsair C-5, the one with a single bolt to hold the frog down. 265143265144It does have a big, almost "Sharky" mouth. Haven't had any issues with the frog. It can scrub with the best planes, or, set the depth fine, and will hog things down in a hurry. Nice, thick shavings. Sound like a "plan"? One leg done, three to go...

[Don Dorn]

Wow - a lot of work to do it all with the plane. Having done several, I fully admit to using the band saw to cut the majority and then smooth to the line.

[Chris Griggs]

That'll do it. Good work Steven. Depending on how much waste there was too remove I might have sawed close to the line first, but otherwise, I'd do it pretty much the same as you did.

[steven c newman]

I have tried the bandsaw route.......too many hills and valleys to level. Used to one of Norm's Jigs for the tablesaw. It would tend to burn it's way along. Even have used a #8c on tapers, but that was a bit heavy to use. And too long.

That cambered jack seemed to help get rid of a lot of waste, though. What was that term?? "an Olde Groat" in thickness?? Yep, we have an "Olde Goat" (me) making "Olde Groats" 265161Lots of them....

[David Weaver]

That'll do it. Good work Steven. Depending on how much waste there was too remove I might have sawed close to the line first, but otherwise, I'd do it pretty much the same as you did.

Yeah, handsaw or bandsaw. The bandsaw should get within a 64th of that line and leave smoother plane work to finish it off. Maybe double that with a handsaw or a little more. If the bandsaw is wandering more than that, there are some bandsaw issues to take care of.

[Chris Griggs]

That cambered jack seemed to help get rid of a lot of waste, though.

Yeah you can hog off a lot material with a coarsely set jack pretty quickly, sometimes I find hand sawing off the bulk of waste quicker, sometimes just planing is quicker. Depends on the amount of material being removed, the wood being work, and the behavior of the grain/grain direction. If the grain is pretty consistent you can hog down something like walnut very very quickly (as you found), going against the grain in something hard or hogging through really knotty wood is less fun.

Although, being cheapskate that I am, I do like to saw the waste off if I think there is even the slightest chance I'll be able to use the weird little off cut for something some day.

Whatever works is good, and again a good coarse jack can do some serious work.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've did a few small legs in ash - tried both sawing and planing - sawing seemed quicker at first, but after I realized I didn't want to take off so much, I went with the plane. Once you get moving in the "downhill" direction, you can take a pretty darn bite with a sharp jack plane blade.

A drawknife is still my favorite way to rough out the waste if the wood is a agreeable, though. I can get a pretty close approximation of the drawknife technique with a large chisel, as well.

I've tried a hatchet too, and that's almost better than the drawknife if the taper is heavy, but with my skill the wood needs to agreeable to being worked in such a brutish fashion. I don't really have a proper work surface for such work (or my own hatchet, right now) so that's not how I've done it.

Sometimes I'm too lazy to duck and look at lines, and a saw is close by, so I like to saw a few crosscuts to give me a visual cue towards depth.

The hardest part for me has been grasping what any actual taper is going to look like when the work is done if I'm tapering all four sides - I tend to go with what I think will be a shallow taper and realize it's more dramatic than I planned after getting to the last side.

[Trevor Walsh]

I did a set of legs for a table in cherry, 1 1/2" square down to 7/8" square. Taper on two inside faces only. I marked my layout on all the faces, especially the end. Started with a cambered jack(#5) and finished with a jointer(#7) and some finish sanding. You have to redraw the guide line on the one side after planing off the first side.

[steven c newman]

I wait until the first face is done, then look at the grain of the leg, again. Then I can mark to remove any "bad spots" left by tapering the second face.

Order of appearence:
Cambered Jack, rough it out fast
Non-cambered jack: Takes the roughness down to almost the layout line
Rebuilt DE6c : Smooth the taper flat the whole length.

IF needed: #4 smooth plane, takes the place of sandpaper.

It will also ease any sharp corner left.