Tapered Legs Question

[JohnM Martin]

I'm planning on starting a project for a Shaker style side table with tapered legs. I know this is subjective, but I'm just curious on opinions... do you taper all sides or just the inside faces?

[Robert Hazelwood]

I like to put a little taper on the outside faces. Less than on the inside faces- I still want it to look like its tapered from the inside, but I think a subtle taper on the outside adds to the effect. And if you have laminated legs, then you may have to taper from all sides to get a visually appealing taper without crossing through a glueline.

[steven c newman]

like this?
389574
Tapered on the two inside faces, only..

[Bob Glenn]

As long as you're not dealing with grain, it really doesn't matter either way. The taper will be same from top to bottom no matter how you turn it. How you orient the leg to the table top will determine which way the taper appears.

[Prashun Patel]

I tend to make all legs taper on the inside only. If there's a taper also on the outside (like with a turned leg) I prefer to splay the leg so that the foot is not (significantly) 'inside' the plane of the corner of the apron.

[Andrew Hughes]

I also only taper the inside of table legs. It’s a good solid splayed look if you start messing with the outside you risk the dying bug look.
A example would be a table with legs that curve inward.Just a terrible look.

[Chuck Nickerson]

If you taper only the inside faces (which is what I do) it lightens the legs and still maintains the piece's external rectangularity.

I once listened to Darrell Peart riff for an hour on leg design, both aesthetic and structural. He should write it down and sell what he's figured out.