Thread: Base construction help

Hi Spence,

Seeing as there are no takers yet I'll have a go. The strength of the connection to the cross beam is probably secondary to the strength of the legs themselves. Have you considered usinga band saw to cut solid wood for the legs - orienting the grain so you use the straight grain to its maximum strength?

For the connetion dowels (a couple) would be okay, or biscuit/s. Also a floating tenon from hardwood might also work. If you are that concerned with the base strength then definately consider solid hardwood cut to the curve with a bansaw.

Hope this helps.

that is certainly a big challenge. My first thought was that I didn't like the scissor base, it reminds me of an ironing board that is about to collapse

My personal preference would be for a more standard 4 legs with styles, and work hard on the lines so that you get strength plus the Japanese look you are after.

my 2 cents, may not be what you are after though.

yer i was thinking that too ruffly and i've sketched and sketched but can quite get something as nice as this. aswell as looking japanese it reminds me of the old chests you could get with a stand like this. I'd still like to try this stand thought, i think it looks good.... See how we go hey..

I was thinking about how to brace the stand lastnight and figured i should put a cross brace or 2 cross braces in between the beams, perhaps dovetail them in.. this might take a while to do this cabinet

If you get a chance, have a search through Google Images for Japanese Furniture and see if you can get some more ideas for the legs from there.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on this

Hi Spence, How about if you flared the top of the scissor legs out to the same width as the cross pieces that they rest on and use a mortise and tenon on that. taper the legs down to about half the width at the bottom (experiment with this with drawings and cutouts on cardboard to get a nice balanced look to the legs). Use a 19mm dowel where they cross and a sliding dove tail for the bottom braces. As brettc said cut the shape on the band saw and orient the grain to maximize the straight grain strength.
Just my thoughts on it.

Regards

Harold

when i saw your sketch two idea's occurred to me, first one is using a full width laminated sheet both sides with like a lap joint in the middle retaining the curve for style, or second idea again keeping the curve for the style and carrying the individual leg idea full width, i'll try and find a similar pic to explain.

idea two scissor style to your design

idea one full width lami to your leg design

kind of thing, hope you get what i mean.

i think it would provide more stability than 4 solitary thin legs and keep within the "oriental" shape of design of your overview with a kind of modern twist (pun was not intended but it works).

Neal.