# Joining bench top to leg with round over edge



## roughcuts (Dec 1, 2016)

I am building a bench, and the guy wanted all the edges rounded. I wasn't thinking about where the legs join up to the bottom of the bench top. Any idea what to do here? The leg's edge is still square, i haven't routed it yet. Thanks for any advice. I attached a couple pictures.


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

I think I'd take the leg and rip off twice the radius of the roundover - that would put the edge of the leg slightly inset from the top, just up to the roundover on the top, and get rid of the overhang.

How were you planning on attaching the legs to the top?


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

A dado in the top will take care of the radius on that part, but not on the leg.

You can give the appearance that the top is floating over the leg by attaching the leg with stout dowels and leaving about 1/4" space between the leg and the top. Stain the dowels black first so that they fade into the shadows.

For 1-1/2" thick stock I would use 3/4" diameter dowels.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

Dado the bottom of the seat, as stated before … it won't take much and it will improve the overall appearance too!


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

> Dado the bottom of the seat, as stated before … it won t take much and it will improve the overall appearance too!
> 
> - oldnovice


That addresses the radius on the bottom of the table top, but it does not address the radii on the outside edges of the legs.

I agree it is an improvement.

I think I would slice a small amount off the leg to remove the radii and then insert the leg into the dado. Then I would use a router to re-introduce those radii that were sliced off.

That is the only way I can think of to make all the radii merge properly.


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## Slemi (Mar 7, 2014)

I am not sure how much of equipment You have. You can make a dado that is as deep as the size of the roundover, but make the edges at 45 degrees and then chamfer the leg at 45 degrees. This way the roundovers will meet nice.

Only backdraw is, that You will lose the length of the leg in the size of roundover.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

I think that you need to make the surface that joins against the top flat with no rounded edges against it so I would trim off just enough to remove the rounded edges from the top of both legs. You are going to need a stretcher between the two legs of the bench to give it stability and prevent it from racking. Once you have the stretcher or strechers attached to both legs you could just drive long screws through the top into the leg. To hide the screws you could plug countersunk holes with plugs. The plugs could be from the same wood or a contrasting wood. Another idea I saw once was to cut a small square or rectangular recess to drive the screws through into the legs and then plug with a square or rectagular plug made from end grain that makes it look like you have a through tenon. You might even be able to use the trimmings from cutting off the round edges of the top of the legs to make the fake tenon plugs.


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

Cut the leg back as jmos suggest & do a stop dado to create a clean corner.


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## roughcuts (Dec 1, 2016)

Thanks for all the input fellas. I went with just trimming the legs back and re-doing the corners. Im brand new to this woodworking so i skipped out on the dado. I didn't want to screw that up as well. A stretcher in the middle between the legs and its rock solid. Thanks again


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