Next order of business: laminating pieces to make the legs. I ripped and crosscut all the necessary pieces to rough dimension and it's all planed (power-planed, not hand planed). There are a couple pieces with slight bows that a thickness planer wouldn't remove, so here's a good learning opportunity.
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The pictures above are of the worst offender--about 3/32" of gap between the pieces. With decent clamps I could certainly get this gap to close up but at what risk? Would the stress induced by clamping a bowed board flat be a problem?
Thus far in my woodworking experience I've taken the "better safe than sorry" route and tried to get all the pieces to mate as well as possible before laminating. I figured the less stress in the wood the more stable it might be in the long term. But this takes time and becomes more and more difficult as components become longer. It also requires, in cases like this, a decent amount of thickness to be removed.
How big of a bow would you tolerate in pieces that are gonna be laminated?
Matt