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Thread: quarter sawn white oak question

  1. #1
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    quarter sawn white oak question

    Looking at instructions on building a bedroom set. This may be over simplistic, but I want to be sure I get it right. Directions say to cut the leg for the dresser 1/2" larger than the 1-3/4 square finished dimension. Then cut two 1/8" slices off and glue these to the flat sawn faces. I could probably get a 1-3/4 square leg out of an 8/4 piece, but to do what the instructions say I have to do a glue up to be able to make 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 so I can then cut 1/8 off to glue on flat saw faces.

    This is a little confusing to me.

    Any help understanding much appreciated.

    Brian
    Brian

  2. #2
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    Pretty sure the goal there is to have a quartersawn face on all four sides of the leg. So if all you can get from your stock is the 1-3/4, then I'd just make two 1/8" x 1-3/4" strips (or a bit wider before cleanup) from a second piece of stock to glue on the edges of the main piece. No reason to glue them on the face only to saw them right back off Those directions would make sense if you actually had thicker stock to begin with.

  3. #3
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    Dave is correct. QS figure is generally limited to two parallel faces and the other two are generally flat sawn in appearance. Veneering the two flat sawn faces gives you the desired figure on all four.

    An alternative technique is to take advantage of rift figure with the grain diagonal across two corners. All four faces will generally have the same figure that way, although it will not be as figured as QS faces would be. It's not a bad choice for legs, however, since QS figure can sometimes be "too much" for certain components. (subjective thing for sure) You can often get rift from the edges of a wider flat sawn board and then can leverage the remaining flat sawn material for secondary purposes where the figure doesn't matter.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
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    Be happy you're not trying to reproduce Stickley's method of joining oddball trapezoids....

    Stickley leg layout.jpg

  5. #5
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    I used lock miter joints for a number of QSWO tables a number of years ago. It did achieve the desired look, but the effort to get all of those joints right was way more work than I'd ever do again. After that experience I have never used my lock miter bits again. The reason I chose to go that way was that I could use much thinner stock to build up the legs.

    I switched to the veneer on two sides method and they were nearly as good and way faster.

    Lock miter QSWO leg.jpg
    Last edited by Dick Mahany; 10-18-2020 at 5:17 PM.
    Dick Mahany.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Runau View Post
    Then cut two 1/8" slices off and glue these to the flat sawn faces.
    Here's an example. The upper left and bottom right leg are built as you describe. The others are rift sawn and give me the look I am after due to that. You want to scale your veneer to the grain pattern. That is, you want the chamfer or round-over dimension of your corner to disguise the fact that there is a joint there.

    NS-Leg-Example.jpg

    These legs present like so when done:

    SU-Compare-002.jpg

    Here is another method where I needed thicker stock. I could use this method due to how the legs presented their 'show' surfaces. They are a three piece cores with 1/8" veneers as discussed.

    Kit-Hut-(36).jpg

    These legs present like so (corner post closest to you in the picture):

    Beams (17).jpg
    Last edited by glenn bradley; 10-18-2020 at 5:35 PM.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


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  7. #7
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    thanks to everyone. much appreciated. brian
    Brian

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Mills View Post
    Be happy you're not trying to reproduce Stickley's method of joining oddball trapezoids....
    I don't understand why anyone would bother. Plain miter joints would be plenty strong - there's a lot of flat grain glue surface to work with.

  9. #9
    When I needed thicker stock for legs, and wanted similar grain pattern on all four faces, I face glued to pieces together, then cut the leg out as a diamond , so the glue joint ran between opposite corners and was invisible. Had to look through a number of boards to find a pair that gave the desired result. I'm guessing the two boards were quartersawn and the resulting diamond showed rift grain on the four faces, but not positive.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Mills View Post
    Pretty sure the goal there is to have a quartersawn face on all four sides of the leg. So if all you can get from your stock is the 1-3/4, then I'd just make two 1/8" x 1-3/4" strips (or a bit wider before cleanup) from a second piece of stock to glue on the edges of the main piece. No reason to glue them on the face only to saw them right back off Those directions would make sense if you actually had thicker stock to begin with.

    Dave, Let me repeat what I read to make sure I understand the process. Final dimension I need is 1-3/4" square. So mill the lumber to 1-3/4 wide on the faces showing quarter sawn grain and then mill the face width on the other two sides to 1-1/2. Cut two 1/" thick by 1-3/4"( I assume a little oversized) strips from a board that has been milled flat/square and glue this face strips to the rift faces on the first piece.

    How would you suggest I clean up the overage on the strips to bring them down to the matching 1-3/4 size? Can't run these through a jointer or planer, so sand or use a hand plane?

    Thanks.

    Brian
    Brian

  11. #11
    In fact, you can run them through the planer or jointer after gluing them on.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    In fact, you can run them through the planer or jointer after gluing them on.

    Good to know. so I will cut the blank a little bigger than needed after jointing and planing the first time so I can then bring it down to finished size after the glue up. thanks brian
    Brian

  13. #13
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    A suggestion.....

    Use rift sawn stock for the legs. You get straight grain on all four sides without all the work. Ray flake is much more subtle than QS, but the legs are usually not the star of the show anyway.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Runau View Post
    Dave, Let me repeat what I read to make sure I understand the process. Final dimension I need is 1-3/4" square. So mill the lumber to 1-3/4 wide on the faces showing quarter sawn grain and then mill the face width on the other two sides to 1-1/2. Cut two 1/" thick by 1-3/4"( I assume a little oversized) strips from a board that has been milled flat/square and glue this face strips to the rift faces on the first piece.

    How would you suggest I clean up the overage on the strips to bring them down to the matching 1-3/4 size? Can't run these through a jointer or planer, so sand or use a hand plane?

    Thanks.

    Brian
    I make the legs a few mm wider than needed then glue the veneer on. Then I joint and plane them to size...Rod.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rod Sheridan View Post
    I make the legs a few mm wider than needed then glue the veneer on. Then I joint and plane them to size...Rod.
    thanks Rod. brian
    Brian

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