Quarter Sawn White Oak Legs - The Two Sided Dilemma.

Can you use 4 pcs and 45 the edges to make a square leg?

As bentlyj said, that’s the way to go. A PITA but the only way you’ll get 4 equally flecked sides is by assembling each one out of 4 QS mitered sides. Hope you have enough clamps though! :o)

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

Here’s a tip I have used a lot. After 45ing all the edges I lay them all flat, bevel down, push each one together tight and run two or three layers of tape over the seams, then I turn them over and apply glue to the joints, fold them all into the square and tape the last joint. This gives surprisingly straight tight seams.

Man I wish I had thought of this before I milled and cut the four 54” X 1.5” X 1.5” legs to size. Live and learn.

David Marks did this on an episode of woodworks. He cut veneer from the leg stocks he was using, got it down to I think 1/32” and then veneered it to the other 2 sides. Veneering is not hard, it’s good equal pressure and a quality glue.

-- Joey, Magee, Ms http://woodnwaresms.com

I agree with Joey. you can still cut veneer and get what you need. Somewhere on the net, a guy used mdf as the core of his quarter sawn legs. I believe he cut it 3/32” thick and then mitered it and glued it to his “core”. He also glued some of it flat (sans miter) and then chamfered it. Both looked great.

-- jstegall

I use this kind of joint.

When you cut this kind of joint on all 4 pieces the glue up is pretty easy & the leg has to be the strongest, most stable design possible.

-- http://www.grandprairiewoodworks.com http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6453794

Stickley et al. used a four piece construction for legs with interlocking pieces.
Sometimes veneer was also used.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."

Thanks everyone :)

I just found this on finewoodworking.com as well:

Stickley-Style Legs
A router bit and two jigs yield quartersawn figure on all four sides
by Patrick Nelson

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2435

Wish me luck ;)

Good Luck, :) You may want to increase your legs to 2” square.

Good luck with your quadralinear legs, that’s the prettiest way to make Mission legs.

I haven’t seen anyone mention jigs for lock miter bits, so I will!

I’ve found that making MDF carriers for narrow leg stock make it much easier to safely and accurately rout the profile. All you need are 4-5” wide strips of MDF, as long as your slightly oversized leg stock. Glue / screw hardwood ends that stick out past the end of the stock. Run a strip of carpet tape down the inside of the jig. Out of the cutting path, drive one screw in each end into the end of the leg stock.

Look at Tim’s post above and notice there is an “A” and “B” cut. Make a carrier for each. One profile is cut with the inside face against the router table, the other has in the inside face against the fence.

Happy quadralinearing!

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

Opps! Hellaenergy’s link DOES mention the exact jigs I’m trying to describe.

They work GREAT, letting you do far narrower stock than would work well without the extra support, as well as keeping your meat away from a large bit. The link is well worth paying for if you’re not a FWW subscriber.

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Hellaenergy’s link and Barry’s tip are right on. Those long skinny pieces are tough to get perfect with out wasting some prime wood. I know , I’ve had to redo a few.

-- http://www.grandprairiewoodworks.com http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6453794

Here’s another tip. Don’t use QS for your legs. Use Rift Sawn. You may not have as many flecks showing but you will have a consistent grain pattern on all four sides. Now that being said, when I built my Thorsten side table, I ripped a 1/16” strip from the same stock as my QS legs came from and laminated to the PS sides of the legs. That would be a bit more difficult for you as you will have the angle to deal with.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

The other option is to cut a veneer for two sides of the lets. Mill your leg stock minus 1/4”+ on the two plain sawn sides. Then Cut your own 1/8”+ Veneer (Nice to do from the same piece if possible). Glue to the legs. Trim with a flush trim bit and mill to final thickness. Not even Perceptible. You can see it on my dining table.

On casework you will only see two sides, so I would only bother to veneer an outside visible face. Good luck.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

I have seen a technique printed of making the leg a 1/8” narrower and applying 1/16” shop sawn flake veneers to the sides. The narrow edge will not be noticable. It seems easy enough especially if it is beveled on the edge some.

Good luck.

Charlie M.(the OTHER CharlieM.) 8^)

-- God makes the wood beautiful--I simply rearrange it to make it more useful, hopefully.

Tim,

Do you have any setup tips for the lock miter technique you use for your legs? For instance, if you have a given end dimension of the leg how do you calculate and mill the proper pieces for that beautiful end result you seem to get? I want a leg that is 1.5 “x 1.5”, do I mill each side to lets say 0.75” thick and 1.5” + n wide where n is a given loss of wood? Also, what do you use for the center?