How to shape this leg

[Glenn de Souza]

I was hoping someone could share with me their procedure(s) for shaping this leg at the point where it meets the turned bun foot. See photo.

I was thinking:

1. Scribe the diameter of the bun foot on the bottom of the square leg,
2. Scribe the arcs on each side at the chose radius, and;
3. Go to it with a block plane and spokeshave, removing material up to the scribe lines and fairing as you go.

Maybe there are other better ways? Rasp and file? Jigged up machine? Thanks



329694

[Cody Colston]

Wood lathe.

[Frederick Skelly]

You could probably shape that leg by hand as you describe adding rasps/files to the process. But I'm thinking that Cody has it right - find someone to turn it if you can. I think it will look much nicer in the end.

If you decide to shape it by hand though, I'd sure like to see photos of your process. Bet it will be an interesting job.

Good luck on it!
Fred

[mreza Salav]

Turned on a lathe, entirely.

[John K Jordan]

Glenn,

Are you asking only about shaping the shallow curve at the bottom of the square section?

329704

If so, that curve will take care of itself when you cut the transition from square to round on the lathe. You do have to be careful about chip out on the edge of the square. I use a sharp skew chisel for that: make a narrow v-cut first, then the first round flat, then carefully refine the transition to get the desired shape on the square, then shape the foot.

JKJ

[Bob Grier]

Glen,

I am not sure what exactly you are asking but here is picture of legs I just cut with my router. They are 37" long and 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". The same technique I used can be used to do your leg and make any number of them so they are the same. Hopefully previous answer's regarding using a lathe, including JKJ's answer, takes care of your question. If not, my suggestions, assuming you do not have access to a lathe or someone who has a lathe and experience to do what you need, is to work harder to find that person or use a router like I did.

If you have a router table and are willing to purchase necessary router bits, then you can do what I did. It involves a technique published by Wood Magazine in April 1994. I forget who came up with it but can send you the portion of article I was able to come up with. It isn't complete but gave me enough to do it. I include a page from the article that gives you the idea but don't try it based on this until you carefully read the whole article. There are some safety issues and it is easy to do something wrong if you loose concentration and attempt to go backwards with a climb cut. If you contact me, I can send you a pdf file of what I have.

There are some other published techniques for using a router that involve making a box and suspending the leg in the box similar to a lathe. I passed on these because my legs were fairly large and I felt more comfortable with more robust support of the leg during the cutting.

329708

329711

[Glenn de Souza]

Hi,

I should have been clearer about my question. JKJ is correct, I'm only trying to shape the transition from the leg to the bun foot. I was planning on buying bun feet and attaching them to a leg that I would make. I do not have a lathe, and don't really want to buy one either. I can see where a lathe would be the best way to make the transition curve but the router article and technique from Bob is really interesting. I'll find the complete article and possibly give it a go. Thank you for this idea,

[John K Jordan]

I should have been clearer about my question. JKJ is correct, I'm only trying to shape the transition

I'll bet a buddy down the street with a lathe could make these transitions for you real quick!

A router would also work, with work held even between two nails and turned slowly by hand. Or slide the square leg stock into a cardboard mailing tube that just fit and rotate it by hand against an disk sander, perhaps with a couple of scrap wood guides to keep the angle constant.

JKJ

[Tony Leonard]

Hi,

I should have been clearer about my question. JKJ is correct, I'm only trying to shape the transition from the leg to the bun foot. I was planning on buying bun feet and attaching them to a leg that I would make. I do not have a lathe, and don't really want to buy one either. I can see where a lathe would be the best way to make the transition curve but the router article and technique from Bob is really interesting. I'll find the complete article and possibly give it a go. Thank you for this idea,

I would keep it simple and go after it with marking it out (make a template out of cardboard) and then roughing with a chisel, rasp, file, scraper. Much easier and quicker than you think. More fun too! Also, mark everything up AFTER you drill your holes and mount the feet just in case things aren't perfectly centered. That way, you can make up for any offset. Practice on a scrap.

Tony

[glenn bradley]

Hi,

I should have been clearer about my question. JKJ is correct, I'm only trying to shape the transition from the leg to the bun foot. I was planning on buying bun feet and attaching them to a leg that I would make. I do not have a lathe, and don't really want to buy one either. I can see where a lathe would be the best way to make the transition curve but the router article and technique from Bob is really interesting. I'll find the complete article and possibly give it a go. Thank you for this idea,

Ah, there it is . . . without a lathe I would rely on a rasp and some sandpaper. Draw limit lines where you want to stop and even use a marking knife to slice the very top layer of fibers along that line. I do quite a bit of shaping this way. Witness lines and a cardboard cutout of the profile to check progress and help with consistency are a benefit. As an example, I use rasps files and abrasives to go from this:

329892

To this:

329891 . 329893

Here's an example of the witness marks I use as a guide:

329894 . 329895