Project Information
I wanted to try my hand at some cabriole legs and I had some offcuts of walnut sitting around from a project I finished over a year ago. A foot stool seemed a little more manageable for a test project than a lowboy or other classic cabriole leg piece, and given how long it ended up taking me I'm glad I didn't bite off something larger. I don't have a lathe so I decided to put slipper feet on the legs rather than the more traditional turned pad feet.
The legs fit exactly in the width of 9/4 walnut board I had, so I was not able to orient them for the best grain on the finished leg-something I'd definitely do in the future if I were to actually purchase lumber specifically for the project. You can see that things were cramped enough that part of the live edge showed up in one of the legs. I cut the knee block out of the same edge so that it would match across the joint and now it's a "design feature."
This was also my first attempt at upholstery, which ended up being surprisingly manageable. This involved 2" upholstery foam attached to 3/8" plywood, some upholstery fabric and a lot of staples.
The finish is two coats Tried & True BLO and a third coat of Tried & True oil and wax. I learned a lot of valuable lessons for when (if?) I tackle cabriole legs again, but I'm still very pleased with the final product.
-Adam
The legs fit exactly in the width of 9/4 walnut board I had, so I was not able to orient them for the best grain on the finished leg-something I'd definitely do in the future if I were to actually purchase lumber specifically for the project. You can see that things were cramped enough that part of the live edge showed up in one of the legs. I cut the knee block out of the same edge so that it would match across the joint and now it's a "design feature."
This was also my first attempt at upholstery, which ended up being surprisingly manageable. This involved 2" upholstery foam attached to 3/8" plywood, some upholstery fabric and a lot of staples.
The finish is two coats Tried & True BLO and a third coat of Tried & True oil and wax. I learned a lot of valuable lessons for when (if?) I tackle cabriole legs again, but I'm still very pleased with the final product.
-Adam