Best way to temporarily cut off a leg

I have had 4 such desks. The legs on mine were different from yours, but presented the same problem.

An almost elegant solution is to remove the legs, all six of them, flush with the bottom of the desk.
Then make two platform boxes using 2×4 or 2×6 lumber on edge with plywood tops and banded with a nice baseboard type molding that will cover from he floor to just above the bottom of the desk.

The boxes need to be the same height as the legs that were removed.
And, obviously, the boxes have to be the same size as, or very slightly larger than, the bottoms of the desk pedestals so the base molding can lap onto the bottom of the desk.

Those desks make wonderful, functional pieces of furniture.

Could you cut the legs off with a thin kerf Japanese saw(Lee Valley). some as thin as 0.016” or thinner. they are a little pricey$50, I have one that I bought.I don’t use it often but nice to have when I need it.After the cut you can reattach the leg with doweling .I have used this method on another project and it worked great.I also used furniture pads to help level any little indifference.

-- measure twice,cut once,hope for the best

I would look at removing the desk top… looks easier than trying to remove the third legs and re-attaching. When they built it, one of the last things they did was put on the top..

David, I had to cut six legs off a couch to get it to the basement. the legs are square at the top and tapper round at the bottom. I cut the leg about .5” from the bottom of the couch using a hand saw. I made a reversable drill jig to drill a hole for a hanger bolt. Wood thread on one side, machine thread on the other. Jig locates on the square portion of the leg. I drilled the hole. On the cut portion of the legs I drilled into the backside of the leg with a forstner bit and made a longated slot, cleaned up with a chissel. Longated slot “T’s” at the bottom of the hole so the washer and nut can bolt fast the leg to the bottom of the couch. I used this method in the event I have to get the couch out of the basement. Good luck.

-- Dan, Naperville IL, I.G.N.

Can the desk be disassembled? The top can usually be removed, and a few screws separate the pedestals.

-- Adversity doesn't build character...................it reveals it.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful suggestions.

I posted that question just before the holidays and hadn’t gotten back to the project until tonight!

Anyway it turned out that Sawkerf’s idea was spot-on. With the top off, the back panel split in two and through the door the pieces went. When assembled the panel looked convincingly glued but one side was not, perhaps even with this manouver in mind.

Thanks again!

Dave