Peg Jig

During the Thorsen Side Table project I had been avidly reading the Darrel Peart book about Greene and Greene furniture and decided to use his method for making the pegs while refining my own method as well.

Since I do not have a disc sander and didn’t really want to buy one I bought a disc sanding wheel attachment for the table saw. I got it online from Woodcraft. For $35 you can’t go wrong.

I made a “peg” jig that fits on the table saw top with a wooden runner in the miter slot. The jig is approximately 4” wide and 8” deep. On the end near the disc in a 3” thick block 1 ½” high and 4” wide. I drilled a 5/8” hole in it. A 3/8” square rod fits nicely inside of a 5/8” hole. Why the hole? – read on. On the edge away from the disc I put a ¾” rail. I could have made the jig raised on the far end to give it a bevel but found it was easier to make it flat. I tipped the disc to about 20 degrees. I experimented first but found 20 degrees worked just fine. Now, what you simply do is put the peg stock in the hole and keep turning it as it meets the disc. With a little experimenting it works great and makes a really good “pillowing” effect.

My pegs are made from Walnut, since that is what I had in the shop. I realize that Greene and Greene used ebony pegs but since they did not start out using ebony then I am not too far off and of course it is my interpretation made in the spirit of my own style.

I made 3/8” square peg stock about 16” long. I made it about 1/64” oversize. Turn on the disc, put the peg stock in the jig and start twirling the stock while moving the jig back and forth. (Can you say walk and chew gum at the same time). Do both ends. Use a piece of 220 grit sandpaper glued to a piece of scrap to carefully sand off the little fuzzy edges, use a 20 degree circular motion to clean up the pillow effect and put in the miter box and hand cut the pegs. Repeat until all the pegs have been made.

I have but 30 pegs in the table so I made 40 pegs. Let’s see 40 pegs and 4 back cuts each equals 160 cuts. Hmmm, no wonder custom made furniture is so expensive.
I also made some wooden shims about 1/16” thick that I will use surrounding the plug during installation to prevent me from tapping the plug flush. The pegs should sit 1/16” to 1/8” proud with the “pillow” top.

-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.