How do I deal table legs this big?

[Eric Schatz]

It's actually a vanity I'm building. Here's the BORG version. (https://www.menards.com/main/bath/bath-cabinetry/vanities/38-1-4-sonata-collection-vanity-base/p-185686-c-5903.htm) The legs are 3 1/2" square by 29". I think a 16/4 piece of walnut would move like crazy/check/etc. Should I glue up a couple of pieces? The BORG is veneer, which I don't know how to do or have access too equipment.

[Peter Quinn]

Mitered box! Could use a lock miter, could do a tape miter, could use splines in the corners. Biggest problem with 16/4 walnut is getting a piece that is dry, is not brutally expensive, and is clear on 4 sides. Not likely to happen. Search this site for some old posts by Mark Singer, he did an excellent pictorial on how to make up four sided glue up legs that look correct. Easier than reading 10k words written by me.

[Steve Baumgartner]

One approach would be to make a vertical box with mitered corners. It's likely that is what is beneath the veneer on the BORG version.

[Prashun Patel]

Movement of properly dried 16/4 walnut won't be an issue. FINDING 16/4 walnut will be an issue.

There are at least a couple ways to do this.

1) Laminate mitered boards around an square core. The core can be anything stable. As long as you size the veneers properly, movement of those won't be an issue. This might be a preferred method if you want to have specific grain on all 4 sides, as in quartersawn oak boards.

2) (My vote for walnut): Laminate (2) 8/4 boards. If you can get 8" wide stock and rip it down the middle, you can either bookmatch or slipmatch the edges. Slipmatched edge-grain on walnut on the right piece will make the seam practically disappear. Bookmatched edges will highlight the seam, but can make it look intentional as the 2 halves will appear to mirror each other. In either case, keep the show face facing out. This is a case where I'd like to see the boards before purchasing. Look for straightish grain on the edge with similar spacing of the grain lines along the length of the board and among all the leg boards you select.

[Bill Huber]

Lock miter is a very good way to make legs like that but the lock miter is not that easy to set up with-out good set up tools.
Infinity sells the Lock Miter Master Jig and this will make lock miter set up much much easier.
http://www.infinitytools.com/Lock-Miter-Master-Jig-For-Bits-Cutting-3_8-3_4-Stock/productinfo/LMM-002/

The easiest for me has been tapped mitered legs, you are gluing long grain to long grain so it is a strong joint. So you cut 4 boards with 45° edges and then glue them all together and clamp them with tape, works very well.

I made 4 legs a while back, they were about the same size as you are going to make. I cut all the parts, laid 4 of them down face up and edge to edge, with 2" blue tape, tapped them all together. then I flipped them over and put on the glue folded it all together and finished tapping with the 2" blue take, they can out really good.

The hardest part was flipping the 4 parts over to put on the glue without pulling the tape off. This is just like gluing up a small box with mitered corners.

[Eric Schatz]

Thanks guys. Prashun, your advise is particularly helpful. This is the first "cabinet" that I am building. I'm a small box maker so I'm not quite used to dealing with things on this size/level. I have the equipment to do your idea. However, I've never veneered. I was trying to avoid doing two "firsts" on one project. Especially one that the wifey will complain about forever if it's not perfect. : )

[Jim Becker]

Mitered box is the classic way to do this. Also to be considered would be a glued-up substrate of engineered secondary stock (to limit wood movement) that is veneered.

[Eric Schatz]

Lock miter is a very good way to make legs like that but the lock miter is not that easy to set up with-out good set up tools.
Infinity sells the Lock Miter Master Jig and this will make lock miter set up much much easier.
http://www.infinitytools.com/Lock-Miter-Master-Jig-For-Bits-Cutting-3_8-3_4-Stock/productinfo/LMM-002/

The easiest for me has been tapped mitered legs, you are gluing long grain to long grain so it is a strong joint. So you cut 4 boards with 45° edges and then glue them all together and clamp them with tape, works very well.

I made 4 legs a while back, they were about the same size as you are going to make. I cut all the parts, laid 4 of them down face up and edge to edge, with 2" blue tape, tapped them all together. then I flipped them over and put on the glue folded it all together and finished tapping with the 2" blue take, they can out really good.

The hardest part was flipping the 4 parts over to put on the glue without pulling the tape off. This is just like gluing up a small box with mitered corners.

So how thick do I want the stock to be for this? I'm thinking this might be the way to go. I've got a RT and this jig looks SUPER simple. The bit is expensive but for $100 I think this project can afford that. Do I want 3/4 stock or 4/4? I make smaller things usually so the bit that goes from 3/8 to 3/4 would be more practical. Do you think the stock needs to be thicker?

[Prashun Patel]

If you laminate 8/4 stock, then you might consider using Titebond III (green). It dries browner than other glues. If you are willing to do an additional 'first' you might add a drop of Transtint brown dye or brown hair dye to the glue. This will help keep the lines dark.

If you are comfortable with 2-part epoxy that's also a good choice. Most of it dries clear, and I find there's less risk of seams appearing with it.

[Bill Huber]

So how thick do I want the stock to be for this? I'm thinking this might be the way to go. I've got a RT and this jig looks SUPER simple. The bit is expensive but for $100 I think this project can afford that. Do I want 3/4 stock or 4/4? I make smaller things usually so the bit that goes from 3/8 to 3/4 would be more practical. Do you think the stock needs to be thicker?

I got 4/4 stock and planed it to 3/4".

I still think that the tapped up miter is the easiest and you would not have to spend any money to speak of.

[Bryan Vaughan]

Bill, that Lock Miter Jig link is a keeper, it went in to my Router Table Project file for future reference.
I watched the video on the setup and running the boards. I'm a novice home project woodworker so I've
never seen nor heard of a Lock Miter Joint.

Thanks for the schooling.

[Peter Quinn]

I can save you $98 versus the lock miter bit.....go to staples and buy a roll of clear packing tape, Google " tape miter", and have at it. Do a dry run first with poplar, no need for your final product to be your first attempt at anything. When I first was explained the tape miter I was incredulise that it would work....until the first time I tried it. If your stock is straight and you have the capacity to rip good and accurate miters over the length of your legs it's really the quickest and most cost effective good method I know. Veneering a 4 sided plywood box is really very simple too, you need only clamp one face at a time, then flush trim, glue another face. No reason to be intimidated by that, much easier than what you are already doing for sure.

[Sam Murdoch]

I got 4/4 stock and planed it to 3/4".

I still think that the tapped up miter is the easiest and you would not have to spend any money to speak of.

I agree with Bill (and what Peter Quinn says too +1). If you want a mitered leg this is easy and rugged. Here are some photos that illustrate the process. In this case I am showing 2 sides but you can easily make a box with this method.

Here are two pieces mitered and ready for tape:

http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s659/Rammeer/Miter-Leg-3_zpsopzd34bx.jpg (http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/Rammeer/media/Miter-Leg-3_zpsopzd34bx.jpg.html)

Here are the pieces flipped over and taped together. I use extra strong clear packing tape. If you are doing a box leg you would tape all 4 mitered pieces together at this stage. Apply the tape tightly and evenly - no or minimal wrinkles. A laminate roller works well to really seal the tape after you have carefully applied it by hand.

http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s659/Rammeer/Miter-Leg-1_zpsface2qtg.jpg (http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/Rammeer/media/Miter-Leg-1_zpsface2qtg.jpg.html)

Once your 4 pieces are taped together flip the assembly over - back to photo 1 - apply glue evenly to the miters. I prefer to glue each face with a thin and even coat. You just want good coverage not over coverage - no need to have glue keeping the joint apart.

After the glue is applied fold your box up -

http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s659/Rammeer/Miter-leg-2_zpsyrc2tvck.jpg (http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/Rammeer/media/Miter-leg-2_zpsyrc2tvck.jpg.html)

Here I use the reinforced strapping tape as my clamp. Pull tightly and use as much tape along the length as needed. Check your assembly for square before walking away from it. Reapply strapping tape as needed to correct the pressure or otherwise square up the assembly.

I have successfully glued up 8' tall columns using this method. They won't come apart. If you start with straight stock and there are no gaps between your mitered pieces the tape and glue method results in a very nice outside corner. With soft woods this method can slightly radius the sharp outside corner and I don't mind that as I usually break the edges with sanding. This allows for better finish adhesion and minimizes the chance of broken outside corners over time do to use and bumps from chairs or vacuum cleaners etc.

[Martin Wasner]

Mitered is how I'd do it.

I've never heard it called a tape mitre, mitre fold is what I've always heard it called here. Doesn't matter, it works really slick. Finish sand your parts before hand. You'll still have to sand after the fact, but It just makes things easier.

[Sam Murdoch]

All the above notwithstanding - If you prefer to use flat stock, as Prashun suggest that works too, though you could use 5/4 stock rather than the thicker 8/4. I don't mind a 3 or 4 piece leg. If you select your lumber for each leg you can have nearly invisible seams.

One trick that makes a better 3 or 4 piece leg is to pay attention to the orientation of the grain of each piece of each leg. As I run the edges of pieces over the jointer I note the direction that results in a clean cut - no tear out. I mark with an arrow. Then as I glue up each leg with its respective boards I make certain that the arrows are on the same face and pointing in the same direction.

Finally as you finish your pieces to size (with the saw or jointer or scraper) your faces will all plane cleanly. You'll know what I mean if you don't take this precaution but rather simply glue up boards randomly and then run your assembly over the jointer and have tear out on one or two boards and perfect edges on the others. No way to fix that except with lots of tedious sanding.

[Bill Adamsen]

Veneer on plywood, miter and wrap. Many ways to do the miter ... lock miter, tape miter, splines, biscuits. The clamping can be tricky with the biscuit ... that's actually the method I've used. Just out of curiosity ... with the splines do you used tape on the corners to wrap, and then slide the spline in after?

[Bruce Wrenn]

There was a thread here recently which referenced another site where blogger laminated legs. The inner plys could be any type of wood, with two outer plys being finished product. After laminating, he ripped two veneers from outer ply, and glued to side, covering laminates. Leg had same look on all faces.

[Eric Schatz]

There was a thread here recently which referenced another site where blogger laminated legs. The inner plys could be any type of wood, with two outer plys being finished product. After laminating, he ripped two veneers from outer ply, and glued to side, covering laminates. Leg had same look on all faces.

Could you remember where you found that? Sounds great.

[Jim Dwight]

I would probably just glue up blanks from thinner wood. 2 or 3 pieces per leg. I'd put the face of the board out and not worry that the glue line was visible on the sides. I agree a mitered box arrangement would look nicer but I've never done it.

If you can shrink the size of the legs to the maximum rip capacity of your table saw you can rip thin veneer with your table saw and glue them around a blank. If you rip roughly 1/8 thick veneer, the small glue line where it joins would not be very visible at all. I did this once on a table where I wanted fancier grain on the legs.