Hollow chair legs

[trollhameran]

I am currently designing my major project for level 3 city and guilds furniture making. It is going to be a very large gothic style throne with 100mm square legs, i realise that this is very bulky and will weigh a ton, so would it be possible to laminate the legs in 3 layers, 2 outer layers each 100mm x 20mm and 2 inner pieces 50mm x 25mm leaving a 50mm x 50mm void in the center. I hope this makes sense, if not i will post a pic.

The only thing I am worried about with doing this is the strength of the joints, the construction will be pegged through mortise and tenons and the joints wont be glued, for easier transportation. So do you think this will work, will the joints be strong enough with the void in the center of the legs?

[cultana]

Sorry but I don't quite follow your 3 layer thing. A picture will be more useful.

You could make this as a simple box with 2 @ 100 x 25 and 2 @ 50 x 25 using some basic joins. Or get a bit flash and use 4 @ 100 x 25 with a miter join.

Where you have the M&T joins you could fill the centre void a bit more to provide a tighter fit.

Also how much is to be broken down will effect your overall construction particularly with the M&T joins.

Sorry if it sounds garbled but thinking on the fly without the detail.

[trollhameran]

I've uploaded an end grain view of what I mean, I think it is the same as what you said about a simple box. I think 4 mitred pieces might be a little excessive, as with the simple box method, I will be able to match the long grain reasonably well and hide the fact that its jointed.

Filling the places where the joints will be is a very good suggestion though, I think I will definitely do that, it's not to much more work and it will give me piece of mind that the joints will be strong enough.

The construction is fairly square all around so I am planning for it to break into 2 separate sides, and then the back, seat, and front and back rails will all be seperate, and will slot into place when the two sides are pegged together.

[Artesano]

I would definitely go for the mitter joint (with the right bits for the router or spindle moulder if you have one or have acces to one). Not only is it VERY strong - it's also practicaly invisible , while the one on your pic is easier to spot , no matter how well you match the grain.

[AlexS]

I'll third the mitres. Easy to cut on the table saw, and virtually invisible.

[Bob38S]

Fourth it,

Mitres - either on the tablesaw or with a mitre lock bit in a router if you have access to one.