Question about curved legs

[Craig D Peltier]

Its a general question on curved legs on a table or a chair etc. Are 99% of these curves cut out of 1 piece on a bandsaw or say a jig saw etc. There not 1 straight piece and then a second glues at an angle and then leg line drawn in an cut out?

Thanks for any input.
I see these curves on some legs and say wow alot of waste if cutting out of one piece.

[Merle Clor]

There is a good article in the current FWW magazine on making these legs. Hopefully, that will answer your question.
Merle

[Jim Becker]

Craig, yes, curved legs do result in a bit of "waste", but the end result is what is important. You really do not want any joints in the legs, both for strength and because they will likely stand out visibly in the finished piece. And just so you know, the waste may actually be more than you first imagine as you need to orient the grain for strength...very often that means you need to start with a much wider board than you would if grain direction was immaterial.

[Hunter Wallace]

Yeah, what Jim said...
and I always find that keeping the cut-offs and
double-stick taping some cork to the face gives
you that straight/square surface you'll need to
make glue up go easier.

[Don Bullock]

Great answer Jim.

[John Fry]

Craig,

This is a picture of "roughed-out" front leg blanks, for a set of chairs. If you do it right, there is a great deal of waste, but I would never sacrifice the leg's quality in order to save wood.

http://www.chiselandbit.com/curved_chairs/curved_chairs7.jpg

These legs finished out to be 1-1/2" square at the top and tapered and curved to a 1" square at the floor. They started as 2-7/8" "rift sawn" blanks harvested from a 12/4 slab. As Jim stated, selecting the proper grain orientation (rift sawn), will also leave additional waste from the "mother" slab, but at least those cutoffs can be used for something else. The waste pieces in the picture above are pretty much useless except for kindling.

[Don Bullock]

Craig,

... The waste pieces in the picture above are pretty much useless except for kindling.

Can you say, Expensive kindling." I knew you could.

Great shot Craig.:eek: It is amazing how much waste there is when you do the job right.

[glenn bradley]

One piece preferred but glue ups of thinner strips can be done as long as the grain will match or the seam won't show based on position.

[Craig D Peltier]

Thanks, I figured so on one piece.Just checking.This is when a 17" or larger bandsaw comes in handy I guess.Its next on my list.
Thanks for your help.