Table Legs - Thick stock or Glue them up?

[Glen Blanchard]

A question for the table makers here.

If a table calls for 2" square legs, what thickness of stock do you buy? It seems to me that one would need to start with at least 10/4 stock - which might be hard to come by. Glue up 2 pieces of stock to get the required thickness? - not sure how this would look.

[glenn bradley]

I've glued up two pieces and then sawn off a piece of 'veneer' from the blank and glued it on the side with the seam that shows. This keeps grain and stain reaction consistent. Worked out well.

[Brad Schmid]

Glen,
For me, it really depend on the grain orientation in the stock i am looking at. I like to see quarter sawn on all 4 sides of a square leg, so if the growth rings are close to 45deg in the board in question, 10/4 is enough to get a finished 2x2 leg. If the growth rings are 90deg(qs) or 180deg (flat sawn), then I need to cut the leg on a 45deg angle to the stock which might require 12/4 or thicker to get a full 2x2 (~2.83in corner to corner) finished leg with QS on all sides. I don't do a glue up on a leg that small unless I absolutely can't find suitable thicker material.

[Pete Brown]

A question for the table makers here.

If a table calls for 2" square legs, what thickness of stock do you buy? It seems to me that one would need to start with at least 10/4 stock - which might be hard to come by. Glue up 2 pieces of stock to get the required thickness? - not sure how this would look.

You can also use four mitered (or lock mitered) pieces to make up the leg. This is especially useful in situations where you want a lot of consistent figure on all sides.

Pete

[Kevin Scott]

I would say that for me it depends on the project and the material that I am working with. I have made legs out of solid stock when working with red oak, walnut or maple and thick material was readily available to me. However, I like to build with quartersawn white oak also. Most of the stock I find is between 4/4 and 6/4. Also if I were to make a leg out of thick quartersawn stock the medullary rays would only show on two of the faces. So I glue up several pieces to get to the desired thickness. I then veneer the two (non-quartersawn) sides to hide the gluelines. I end up with a leg that "looks" solid and has quartersawn grain on all faces.

There is also another approach where you take four pieces of stock and essentially miter the edges so that they lock together and form a box. I haven't tried this method yet. Do a google search for quadralinear posts for additional details. I hope this helps.

Edit: It looks like I type to slow and everyone beat me in their posts :)

[Dan Oliphant]

Glen, Mark Singer did a wonderful write up on this subject back in November. Do a search for his post on the 12 foot wenge dining table, this is THE best method I have seen short of solid stock.

[Pete Brown]

Glen, Mark Singer did a wonderful write up on this subject back in November. Do a search for his post on the 12 foot wenge dining table, this is THE best method I have seen short of solid stock.

Here's the thread on the wenge table
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=43101

There's also another thread with the completed version.

Pete

[Ron Brese]

Glenn,

If you take 5/4 stock wide enough for the two pieces you need to glue up the legs and then rip the two pieces and fold them back together on the rip line you will get stock that matches quite well with a lot of consistency in color also. The outside edges of the stock that come together can be postioned on the inside of the leg which is a less critical viewing position. However this side usually matches really well because the material is from the same board. Sometimes legs done this way actually look better than solid stock and are more stable. If the legs are to be tapered make sure the taper cut does not run thru the glue line on the faced together side.

Ron

[Jim Becker]

For straight legs, glue-up with veener, a mitered "box" assembly or Mark's method can be great...and economical. But if there is any tapering or other design features, thick stock can be better. In that case, try to pick stock that you can take legs such that the grain runs diagonal, corner to corner on the billet. (rift cut) That results in identical, straight grained faces on all four sides. This may mean working with a wider board, taking the legs off the outer edges and then resawing the remaining stock for other components, secondary wood or drawer sides where flat grain is permissable.

[Doug M Jones]

Wow, I have so much to learn. Hopefully in a few years, I will be able to build to the quality that many of you creekers are turning out. Just have to learn to be patient and take my time.

[Ian Abraham]

If you can get some 'rift sawn' timber (with the growth rings at around 45 deg) then the glueup will have similar look on all faces. Works for solid legs, and same for glue-ups.

Structually the glue-up is fine, it's a cosmetic thing mostly, but because thick timber is harder to dry it's usually more expensive. So a glue-up with the grain matched nicely will work, if anyone looks close they will just see that it's a solid wood glue-up

The other options are good too, may look better, but more work.. so it's your call :)

Cheers

Ian

[Ken Bryden]

I have found that making legs from two, or even more pieces is fine. First, people rarely notice ANYTHING below the top. They look at it, feel it and say "Nice table." Another advantage is if you are dealing with unstable wood, two pieces of wood with opposing grains will cancel one another out. I once made a practice leg with 7 pieces of wood including an extension on the bottom with a dowel. It looked so good I used it and no one ever notices the different layers. In woodwork, you can fool most of the people most of the time!
Ken Bryden Vancouver BC

[Rick Johnston]

I'm not following what M Singer was doing with the dado to hide the seam. ?? (See below)

Jim, for tapered legs on two sides the method you describe is finding some stock that is rift sawn. Say the leg is 3" sq and material available is maximum 10q - how would you do the glue up and selection to best hide the taper seam.
And also thanks to you and others - it's like going to school reading your posts!

If if it wasn't tapered the veneer idea sounds easy enough.


<<<<<<
The legs are doubled 8/4 so essentially 16/4 . I didn't want to see the seam so I mitered out a 3/8" dado and filled with a solid wenge fascia on the rip miter. This is real handy to know and most woods are not available in 16/4 especially exotics like wenge. This solution is invisible and pretty easy to do. Trim the fascias on a jointer with the fence at 45 degrees...I haven't seen this one in books and I have found it a valuable trick for many years...The oak coffee table I made used similar details...>>>>

[Michael Peet]

I'm not following what M Singer was doing with the dado to hide the seam. ?? (See below)

Rick, this might be the joinery in question:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?43101-12-foot-Wenge-dining-table&highlight=wenge+dining

[Cody Colston]

Use solid stock, preferably rift sawn so that the grain is similar on all four sides. With QS grain, you will have two sides QS and twwo sides flat sawn. That can be a disturbing look.

It really all depends on your methods of work and your idea of good craftsmanshp. You can compromise and use glued-up stock or you can use solid, rift-sawn stock.

[Prashun Patel]

I wouldn't worry too much about getting 2" out of 8/4. There is minimal waste for table legs that are that skinny and short.

I can usually get 1 7/8 x 2 from 8/4 stock.

Can u make your design work with that?

The choice to laminate or use solid is specific to the wood and design. If you are working with qs oak, you may choose to laminate to avoid the flat sawn sides. If you are tapering your legs, cutting thru the laminations can be unsightly if unplanned. It all depends on the grain and the look u want.

[roger wiegand]

It really depends on the look you want to achieve-- and the price point you want to hit. Classic A&C furniture in QS oak will want an assembled leg that shows consistent figure on all sides. A MCM piece with bent laminations will want to show off the laminations. When I made my four-poster bed I opted to start with 20/4 cherry because I wanted someone to look at it and think it could be 200 years old. Laminated posts would have been just as strong and cost half as much. (There were some serious white knuckle moments while turning those blanks! Both due to the investment in each, and the fact that I had two sequential boards to cut them from and if I messed one up a replacement wouldn't match.)

[Jerry Olexa]

I suppose this is obvious: SOLID stock is better but difficult to find...G'Luck

[Frank Drew]

Being able to make legs and posts out of solid is the reason they make thick lumber, or anyway that's the way I've always looked at it. Plus the fact that if you want to get the work out the door in a finite amount of time you won't want to at least triple your time spent making each leg for, IMO, dubious return: A leg's proportion and shape are easily apparent and complement the piece's overall design; grain, since it's not as obvious or easily seen by the end user or viewer, not so much .

[Chris Padilla]

Folks,

Note that Ken Bryden revived a thread from 2007!! It is a good one with Mark's leg method being reprised but do keep that in mind when replying.

And to answer the question about how Mark's leg method works, here is a rendering of the process:

335610

[Frank Drew]

And I'll add that the more complicated a lamination, the greater the risk of an eventual de-lamination.