procedure for making legs from 2by stock

[Jason Morgan]

I am getting ready to make a base for one of my benches, and I was wondering what the prefered method/dimensions were for making 3x3? out of 2x4 stock? I assume its joint the inside faces of the stock, cut the mortices glue up, then cut square to 2.75x2.75 or 3x3?
Thanks

[Brian Dormer]

If you haven't got the wood already - you'll get better stock by buying 2x8's or even 2x12's (12 footers if you can handle stock that size), ripping them down, jointing, then gluing up.

[Jared Cuneo]

If you're gluing up 2x material and need to cut mortises in the center, you might dado the halves before glue up.....saves some time hogging all that wood out later....

[Jamie Buxton]

Me, I dislike seeing the seam running up two faces of the leg. I get thicker stock ( for instance http://www.tablelegs.com/Squares-Blanks/TurningSquares.aspx ), or I do like the Stickley generation did. Those guys made square posts with all four faces quartersawn. They did it by gluing up four boards. The boards are beveled at each long edge, so the seams between the boards are at the corners of the post. In that construction, the seam is never noticeable.

[Randy Klein]

If you haven't got the wood already - you'll get better stock by buying 2x8's or even 2x12's (12 footers if you can handle stock that size), ripping them down, jointing, then gluing up.

This is the way to do it. The reason is that the longer (12 - 16 ft) 2x12's have much straighter grain and less knots than 2x4's (it's a weight bearing code thing). You can actually get 2-2x4 quartersawn rips out of a 2x12, by ripping off the outer 4 inches on each edge. If you go to lowes or HD and look at the ends of a 2x12, you'll see what I mean.