Thread: Tapered table legs

I recently purchased and used the following taper jig with great results. I used it on my table saw and stood parallel to the blade sliding the workpiece and jig across my body, along the fence and past the blade. With accurate marking I was able to produce 4 equally tapered legs. Very happy.

I have not done this myself but was reading the page only today

Building a table

About half way down he shows how he tapers the legs on his jointer using a spacer under one end. Would take a long time and not 100% accurate unless you measured/marked first. But it is an easy way to do it.

My best bet would be use a band saw and a jig if you can get access to one.

I like these......


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxVCBOK1J0Q"]YouTube - How to cut a curved, tapered leg[/ame]

thats a great video jack.
looks very simple to do.
i just need a good template to start off with!

i also liked the carbatec jig for the table saw metester.
does the jig show angles or degrees?
how does it attach to the table saw fence? i am guessing with a couple of bolts.

regards, justin.

I have made tapered legs a couple of times. The first time on the bandsaw followed by a clean up on the jointer; and the second time with the Carbatec table saw taper jig. The table saw method was hands down the quickest and most accurate for me.

There are a couple of DIY ideas floating around for building your own jig, but the Carbatec one is made of metal and I thought it was well priced as well.

Thanks very much for all your input. I went out to my shed today and tried the jointer method, using a spacer,and was really happy with the result. I don't as yet own a bandsaw,so that takes that out of the equation.I like the look of the table saw jig, but think i'll stick with the jointer method,as it gives a good finish and is much faster than i expected,and was very accurate. I tested it on 90mm sqaure redgum,and the tapered leg i ended up with looked like it had come out of a professional workshop. Thanks very much folks and any additional thoughts would be appreciated. Cheers Greg

Set up 2 sleds for your thicknesser.

One at the correct angle and the other at twice the angle.

Used to do hundreds of them.

Hi , i'm a passionate,but novice woodworker, could you give me a a few more clues on the thicknesser method. Regards Greg

Originally Posted by justinmcf

...
i also liked the carbatec jig for the table saw metester.
does the jig show angles or degrees?
how does it attach to the table saw fence? i am guessing with a couple of bolts.

regards, justin.

There's a degree scale near the hinged end of the jig. But make a test cut on scrap to ensure accuracy.

It doesn't attach to the fence. It rides against the fence. The projection at your end pushes the workpiece.

Cheers,
Joe

Originally Posted by greggyboy

Hi , i'm a passionate,but novice woodworker, could you give me a a few more clues on the thicknesser method. Regards Greg

You need a piece of timber longer and fractionally wider than the size of the leg you are machining.

I used pine because it is cheap and readily available in larger sizes.

We cut the angle on ours on a bandsaw but you can joint it down to the angle you need.

Fit sides so that the leg can't slip sideways. Fit a stop to the high end of the angle.

Fit the leg in the jig and feed it through the thickenesser as you would any other timber and do 2 sides until the angle is done.

You need another one that is twice the angle to do the other sides of the leg to get the same taper all round.

My personal opinion is that legs look better with only 2 sides tapered.

Joe is right Justin. The jig slides along the fence and I found it worked best when you stand parallel to the fence and slide the jig across your body. It seems to give you more control and avoid the chance of it sliding away from the fence.

I was working on the legs for a dining table today, so I thought I would take some pictures to show you how I did it.

Step 1: Machine the legs and cut to length. Also, it is easier to cut the joints at this stage while all surfaces are still flat and square.

Step 2: Mark the taper on a leg and transform the angle to a piece of MDF.

Step 3: Use the MDF to make a jig. Screw a block of wood at the ends of the MDF. The distance between the blocks should be slightly longer than the length of the legs. This makes it easier to insert leg to the jig.



Step 4: Insert a wedge into the gap between the leg and rear block. This will secure the leg to the jig firmly.



Step 5: Set the blade slightly lower than the thickness of the leg. This will prevent the offcut to fall and gets jammed between the blade and blade insert. Be sure the use a rip blade for the job.

Make sure you cut the 2 tapers in the correct order. You want to make sure you have a flat surface facing the table top and one facing the fence for the second cut.

Also, make sure you don't cut too much or too close to the line. See the final cut is around 2mm from my pencil mark. Leave plenty of room for error.



Step 6: Finish the cut on a bandsaw or a handsaw.




Step 7: Make the second cut.



Step 8: Use a block plane to clean up the cut made by bandsaw.



Step 9: You could use a plane to remove the blade marks but I find it easier to pass it on the jointer to achieve a straight and square cut. So there you have it. 4 handsome and perfectly tapered legs.

You make it look easy Wongo. I have just made some tapered legs but let the saw cut all the way through. Is it really essential not to make a through cut? ie let the blade cut all the way through?

I think it is a good practice anyway. The exit end of the offcut is extremely thin. It could easily be jammed in the gap between the blade and the blade insert. It happened to me a couple of times and it was pretty scary.