How to Construct Table Legs

[JohnM Martin]

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but a search turned up little information. I'm wondering the best way to construct 2.5" ish square table legs for say a hall table or even a coffee table. Is it better to try to find material that thick and use a solid piece or laminate 3 4/4 pieces together to build the legs and plane to desired thickness. If lamination is the way to go, how does one keep the seams tight so that it appears as a single piece rather than having visible seams - especially visible with changing grain. I've done some searching online and have come across the mitering method but that seems more geared towards power tool methods. Am I thinking about this wrong?

Whats the common practice way of going about constructing thick table legs with hand tools?

[Brian Holcombe]

I prefer to use rift sawn stock, vertical grain orientation, perfectly clear and without runout.

In your case I'd want to start with 12/4 stock, if you knock them down to 2.25" you can likely start with 10/4 stock. When you are planning out these sort of things you'll want to take care to plan around available materials. 12/4 is a nominal thickness of 3" and a likely finished thickness of 2.75"~, 10/4 is 2.5" and a finished thickness of 2.25" and 8/4 is 2" with a finished thickness of 1.75".

When you start planning a finished thickness of something like 2.5" you're in a situation where you will need to buy heavier stock and waste a lot of material, which is a shame.

[JohnM Martin]

I'm not sure any of my local sawyers will do the extra work for rift sawn stock. Where does one typically find that?

Thats a fair point about 2.5" thickness and waste. That number was somewhat arbitrary - I chose it because I have been looking at plans and have seen it on several. The point is well made that careful planning can lead to better efficiency and cost savings when it comes to waste.

[Pat Barry]

If you want to have a consistent grain pattern on each face you will have to do the mitered approach. This is the method commonly done for Morris Chair construction for example. Laminating three pieces can work if you are not overly concerned with grain and color matching on the laminated edges but it typically yields two good faces and two not so good faces.

[Ted Reischl]

Laminating three pieces together becomes a problem if you will be tapering those legs at all. No matter what you do, no matter how you glue them up, the cross grain joint line that is revealed when they are tapered will stick out like a sore thumb.

[Robert LaPlaca]

John solid stock is the only way to go.. One can get rift sawn leg stock from wider pieces of 10/4 and up thicknesses from the edges closest to the bark, the growth rings are curving at this area and one usually can get rift sawn typical sized leg stock widths using this technique.

[Prashun Patel]

There are ways to make all three approaches work.

I made two chairs with laminated legs using an idea from Scott Morrison: You slip or book match stock. This makes the grain match on the seam look relatively intentional. I agree that tapering can be a challenge for laminated legs. But if you taper both sides uniformly then it can look fine and intentional. You still have to pick your stock wisely such that the other side still matches fine. This is why it's sometimes better to do this as a slip match. Here's an oak leg I made this way. You can decide how acceptable the results are (I know; I know, the grain orientation on the leg does not match that on the foot. I have no excuse for that negligence...)

The bigger issue with laminations isn't the matching, IMHO; it's maintaining an invisible seam over time.

[Pat Barry]

Probably we should ask what type of material you are planning to use to start with for your lamination approach because some woods and grain patterns work better than others. No matter, careful material selection and matching of grain and color are important if you want the best appearance.

[JohnM Martin]

Probably we should ask what type of material you are planning to use to start with for your lamination approach because some woods and grain patterns work better than others. No matter, careful material selection and matching of grain and color are important if you want the best appearance.

I've got a pile of flatsawn white oak I was planning on using... Also have access to some red oak as well.

[JohnM Martin]

There are ways to make all three approaches work.

I made two chairs with laminated legs using an idea from Scott Morrison: You slip or book match stock. This makes the grain match on the seam look relatively intentional. I agree that tapering can be a challenge for laminated legs. But if you taper both sides uniformly then it can look fine and intentional. You still have to pick your stock wisely such that the other side still matches fine. This is why it's sometimes better to do this as a slip match. Here's an oak leg I made this way. You can decide how acceptable the results are (I know; I know, the grain orientation on the leg does not match that on the foot. I have no excuse for that negligence...)

The bigger issue with laminations isn't the matching, IMHO; it's maintaining an invisible seam over time.

Looks great to me!

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I am building a table now, and using laminated stock for the legs, because I have some 4/4 stock I got cheap, and I figure I will make enough mistakes regardless of what I use. It is hard to justify buying 8/4 stuff. I know the legs won't be perfect, but it is just for me, they would not be perfect regardless of what I started with, and I don't care that much for this one. It is primarily a learning exercise.

It would take an awful lot of skill to get invisible glue joints, with the grain matched, all the way around, on all four legs, with hand tools. If that is your standard for what it should look like at the end, just understand that may not be a realistic goal with laminated stock, and you should listen to Brian and others.

[lowell holmes]

QS white oak is good.

Vertical grain fir would work as well.

[Phil Mueller]

John, I do prefer non-laminated when possible, but here are pictures of two legs with a slight taper from one of my first end tables. With careful grain selection, I don't find them offensive. The darker wood (walnut) does seem to help, and the lamination is on the leg sides, but I'm pretty satisfied overall with the way it turned out.

362575 362576

[Derek Cohen]

My preference is to use wider stock, and select the grain direction ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/SofaTable-Legs_html_7e59a10d.jpg



.. and then sawn out on the bandsaw …



http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/SofaTable-Legs_html_71f74745.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek