Table Legs

This pile of oval-shaped shavings on my workbench can only mean one thing. It's time to fine tune the length of the rail and stretcher tenons on the accent table. Below, you can see I use a block plane on the shooting board to shorten the tenons. It's a lot quieter than a table saw, and a bit quicker, too.

With all the tenons looking good, I've moved on to the shaping of the legs. The legs begin fairly narrow at the top and flare out to their widest point at the floor. Tracing the template, below, ensures consistency in the shaping of all four legs.

After marking them, I then cut the curves freehand on the bandsaw.

INTERMISSION: There was some movement of the leg material after making these bandsaw cuts, so I took a break from the project to let them settle a bit more, ensuring their stability before proceeding with further shaping.

The block plane, smoothing plane and compass plane all play a role in the shaping of these subtle curves. Below, my compass plane is pictured as I work on the concave curves of the outside faces of the legs.

After a bit more shaping of the legs, I'll move back to the curved stretchers which will establish the angle for the outside faces of the legs.

Hej då!

Craig