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Thread: how would you make some bed legs with 1/4 sawn wood on all four sides

  1. #1
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    how would you make some bed legs with 1/4 sawn wood on all four sides

    Next project is a mission style bed with square legs 3 or 4" square, not sure yet. I want to make sure I have a 1/4 sawn face on all four sides of the leg. Three ideas on how to go about this.

    1. Glue up and mill the legs and add 1/8" or 1/4" veneer to the non 1/4 saw sides.
    2. Use 8/4 stock and cut each edge with a 45 degree bevel and glue up.
    3. Similar to above, but make a jig and use a lock miter bit to make the four sides for glue up. I've seen this in an article about making a pole lamp.

    Appreciate your input.

    Brian
    Brian

  2. #2
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    Look up Gustav Stickley furniture

  3. #3
    If you use rift sawn stock you will have straight grain in all four sides. If you’re using white oak and want the ray fleck on all four sides this won’t be optimum… what wood are you using?

  4. #4
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    I usually use rift sawn. When I have used QSWO for legs I oriented the ray flake to the show sides. The veneer approach works very well too. The glue line just disappears.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

  5. #5
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    From Stickley's circa 1915 catalog, they made legs more or less according to your idea #3.

    Stickley Leg Construction.jpg
    Chuck Taylor

  6. #6
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    I'm with Rob about rift as it will be easier to get something that looks refined as you cap two opposing sides. The corners will blend well and if done carefully, the joints will all but disappear. You could, of course, wrap mitered veneer around a core, but that's a whole bunch of work. And, of course, there is the hollow, interlocking method someone noted.
    --

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

  7. #7
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    At least in our house bed legs take some abuse, so not a great place for veneer. Stickley solved this problem perfectly, long ago. Just do it the way he did, shown in the diagram above. That approach has well stood the test of time.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kendall Scheier View Post
    If you use rift sawn stock you will have straight grain in all four sides. If you’re using white oak and want the ray fleck on all four sides this won’t be optimum… what wood are you using?

    1/4 sawn oak.
    Brian

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Taylor View Post
    From Stickley's circa 1915 catalog, they made legs more or less according to your idea #3.

    Stickley Leg Construction.jpg
    thanks charles. Noit sure how I would create that other than lock mitre bit. I will read up on how he did it.
    Last edited by Brian Runau; 03-12-2022 at 1:27 PM.
    Brian

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Runau View Post
    thanks charles. Noit sure how I would create that other than lock mitre bit. I will read up on how he did it.
    A simple miterfold held together with packing tape will do the trick.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Jenness View Post
    A simple miterfold held together with packing tape will do the trick.
    Yep, this works. No need to make it any more complicated, like lock miters.

  12. #12
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    Here’s how I do it. The side seams are hidden in the chamfer.

    6C292929-EE04-40D7-9B5D-224994C8B816.jpg
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  13. #13
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    That's exactly what I was thinking, Brian, albeit in walnut.
    --

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

  14. #14
    Well, this is how I just did it, on the bed I am currently working on. The bedposts are 2 pieces of quartered white oak laminated to a center piece, with 1/4" quartered white oak laminated to the sides.

    I'm doing a Jeff Jewitt style finish, with his water based dye, followed by a coat of SealCoat, then Gel Stain, a coat of SealCoat, and then Armor Seal. I haven't put on the Armor Seal yet in these pictures.

    If you look close, you can kind of see the lamination under the dye and stain, but only if you look really close. If you can avoid mixing sapwood and heartwood, it is almost invisible.

    Bedpost1.jpg Bedpost2.jpg

  15. #15
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    I mitered and glued them on a full legged wine cabinet I built . The only problem I had was where I tapered the leg about 4 1/2 " below the cabinet it showed so I had to veneer the spot
    The legs were 0nly 2 1/2 wide by 50" L

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