I planning on building a couple of Shaker end tables. Since I need to taper the legs, I needed a way to do this with a minimum of $$$. I have a couple of good handplanes in the shop so, I decided to taper the legs with the planes. I lay out the taper on the leg, clamp the leg in my vise and plane away. I start at the “foot end” of the leg and work back up to the top. One final pass smooths that face and then I rotate the leg and start again. Shop is nice and quiet ( no power tools in use) easy to clean up( shaving are easier to clean up than sawdust), and no dust mask is needed. I also get a decent “cardio” workout. Ah, benefits! It isn’t “true old school”, but since I sold my draw-knife years ago, it will have to do. What do you think?
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Replies
That seems like a "handy" way to, uh, iron out the problem. ;-)
Yep, a plane IS a "cordless" tool, afterall. Just haven't found the batteries for it. Although a couple of Mountain Dews do "charge" the thing up a bit.
When handplaning tapered legs, I have a jig I like to use. It's a simple wooden channel just a hair wider than my smoother, with edge fences (to keep the plane centered over the channel) and end stop against which the leg blank rests. The leg rests inside the channel and is blocked up off the bottom with spacers of appropriate size to raise the leg so the taper line is lined up with the top of the channel. Then just work the plane until it won't cut any more. If necessary, the blank can be wedged into the channel while working.
I tend to plane tapers from the top (wide end of the taper) to the bottom, since planing in this direction is usually "with the grain" and keeps the plane from digging in.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
I just start at the bottom, taking bites as I go. I plane to the line as I go. The last "swipe" takes the line out and the taper is done. I've also used my planes to "round-over" the outside corner. It's easier (and cheaper) than trying to find a 1" radius round-over bit. I've also been known to use a sliding dovetail joint to attach aprons to the legs. Just slide the aprons in (with glue on the "sliding part") and a single nail driven in from the back( inside the assembly) "locks" the joint inplace until the glue dries. Nail goes through the inside corner of the leg and into the dovetail, then into the center of the leg. Almost like "pegging" the joints.
I think I would put together a little tablesaw jig on about a three to five degee angle and do them that way. I know that "old way" may call for all that hand labor but spend your energies on something more important than just tapering legs.
That hand labor also flattens the tops of my tables, profile planes do the "moldings". I.m not getting paid by the hour in the shop. While some would spent "X" amount of time building a jig to put three flutes down a leg, I can have those same flutes done in the same amount of time.
Very good sir. Just another way to skin the old cat. Looking forward to seeing your finished product.
There IS one of those tables in the Galleries section. And the wood for that table came from a couple of pallets (skids) with the legs coming from the "runners" of the pallets. "Low tech shop", low $$ wood.
mr kramer
You are recommending a power tool in the "hand tools" section of the forum. While your suggestion will accomplish the mission, it isn't a hand tool solution.Just thought I'd bring it up that some of us like to work with just hand tools to solve woodworking issues. I am not trying to be confrontational.
While I'm not a hand-tool "purist", IF a hand tool does the job I'm trying to do, fine. Some shops look down there noses at other shops simply because these other shops don't have $$$$$ in power tools( oh, and they HAVE to be a certain model) and are "forced" to make do with less "TOYS". I don't think that the latest big dollar table saw would make me a somehow "better" woodworker. If one does not have the skills, learned by using HAND TOOLS, to use these high priced toys, These toys become a "crutch" of sorts. I use what tools I got with the skills I've got. I can still HAND SAW and SPLIT the lay-out line. Some spend more time building jigs and such to guide their work than actually do the doing. Taper a leg? Build a jig to guide your tablesaw, cut the leg, joint the saw marks off the leg and sand the leg. OR just lay out the taper ON the leg, clamp the blank in the vise and PLANE to the line, with MAYBE a little sanding on the edges. Now, which is "better"?
Now, which is "better"?
I would say.. What 'works' for the 'worker'!
Here's a look at some of those legs:
Here is a look at the finished table. Top is 22"x 22", legs are 24" long. Just old loft bed wood, pine.
Old loft bed wood?
You have turned out a nice piece of work!
Finish? That will have a nice patina soon.
Finish, just two coats of Minwax "Golden Oak" stain, followed by two coats of gloss varnish. The legs came from a waterbed's side frame. A 2x10 that had a few knots, ripped blanks out and around the worst knots. Loft bed was one I made a few years back out of pine. Son outgrew and broke the bed. The boards look better here than in a landfill. Thanks for the comments.
Table is now finished, and posted in the gallery. Thanks.
It is no problem to taper legs with a well-sharpened rip saw. I have done this many times. I use a 5-6 tpi saw. First I lay out the taper on two sides of the blank. I put the blank in my shoulder vise, as far down as possible, through the guides. I begin sawing at the narrow end of the taper (bottom of the leg). Initially, there is some vibration in the blank from lack of support. As soon as the saw enters the cut, I hold the blank at the end with my off hand fingers on the "good" part and continue to saw down, just shy of the line. After the saw has fully enterwed the cut, I can put my off hand around the cutoff as well. This helps to keep the saw tight in the cut and gives it good support. As you approach the end of the taper, where it thins out, reduce your rate of cutting considerably. It takes under 2 minutes to cut a 24 inch long taper. Afterwards, I clean up the taper with my jack plane, then a couple of passes with the smoothing plane, creeping backwards up the taper with each pass, the final pass with the plane blade right at the beginning of the taper.
Ah, benefits! It isn't "true old school", ??
Sounds like old school to me! I like old and new school thoughts but just as I am..
I made 8, 96 inch long tapered legs for my two canopy beds.. I cheated! I cut the taper (Yes, just two sides. The sides are tapered and the inside/outside are flat) on the table saw and used my scraper plane to finish it off... I used a hunk of 2X12 and some roller stands for the fixture.
I made a prototype at 50 inches in length in pine and I liked the look of the flat two sides better and I thought much easier to fit the head and tail boards which are multiple parts.
I also received my "cardio" workout wondering if I would ruin all that expensive wood when cutting it! I love my planes but I am not sure that I have to skills to use them on laminated wood of different types along the 96 inch length.. And on eight of them!
I do not recall where but I watched an old timer chop to a line with a broad hatchet and finish up with a drawknife . 4 tapers maybe 10 to 15 minutes per leg. Some small toolmarks visible that if you wanted could be worked out with a scraper.I think it was in Tuckahoe NJ where the seaport is now.
mike
Mike,The broad axe is one tool I would like to learn to use proficiently.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com and now http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
The Broadaxe is fairly simple to use. Just let it swing down on it's own, all you have to do is aim where the cut will be. After awhile, it becomes just like a "paring chisel", and as long as you let the axe do all the "work", fairly easy to do. Just remember, the key to these is to keep the area small. Make cuts into the beam with an axe and then broadaxe the areas inbetween the cutouts. Also, find a stance that is comfortable for you, and still allow the axe to work. Unlike a "regular axe", a broadaxe is more a "shaving cut" than a "chip" cutter. You shave off pieces of wood, rather than trying to produce a bunch of chips. Make sense?
A paring chisel I am good with. I understand about making the crosscuts before coming back and chipping off the waste (like kerfing with a saw before wasting away with a chisel). What are your preferences for handle length and bevel? I know they used to be single bevel, but most seem to be double bevel now.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com and now http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Broadaxe handles are usually short ( around 24", I think) and MOST have a single bevel. Handles are straight, it's the head where the handle goes in that "skews" to the outside. The bevel is also on the outside. I don't see how a second bevel could be used, you'd have to "angle" your swing. Then there is a chance for the blade to "bounce" off the wood ( can you say "steel toed boots") and into something NOT wood.
I did some research on the Gransfors website and learned this:"Beveled on two sides (double beveled) or on one side, left or right. The eye (and the direction of the handle) may be straight or angled sideways, right or left, to protect the knuckles. One side beveled, left side, normally goes with an eye angled to the right. If you want deeper visible cuts when squaring logs, you can use a broad axe, double beveled, with the blade bent and the eye angeled to the right or to the left."PS: Did you know that Gransfors sells Tomahawks and Battle Axes?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com and now http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris, the Grandfors are too much bucks for me so mine is an Ox head(German) from Highland ww. They had both left & right a few years ago but the current site listing dosen't specify so ya have to call them.
It's a very good axe. I practiced on fire wood logs and 6" posts that I needed to flatten to pin in place for a wood crib base off the ground for the fire wood. I have a righty-flat on the left side of the blade towards the log-and I stand on the left side of the log to flatten the right. All the best, Paddy
If I'm not mistaken, HH also stilll offers an American made Plumb hewing ax. I also have an Ox head, and it is a good tool.
After that purchase, while looking at a HH catalog, I noticed the Plumb ax for (at that time) $29.99 and telephoned HH (out of curiousity), and they told me it was a USA product and it was handled RH. If you wanted it to cast off LH, you needed to re-handle it, inserting the handle from the other side.
Going out to the shop today( I get ONE every six days)and I'll work on those legs. I've got a 2x10 clear pine board to rip down into leg "blanks". There is also a "lip" on one edge of the 2x10, I save this for drawer "guides" in the tables. Planes are nice and sharp and ready for a "work out". Table tops will be glued up and then hand planed smooth and flat. Lathe is being "rebuilt" right now, so I've got a pair of "store-bought" knobs for the two drawers. All of the wood for these two tables came from beds that were thrown away. My shop vs a landfill? My shop wins every time. Those shavings from the legs? I use them to start my charcoal grill. No lighter fluid! Yep, I'm going "Green" here.
I need to make some coarser saw dust/chips for my blueberry bushes!
Tony,
Just mulch 'em with pine needles.
We used to have high bush blueberries and they thrived on pine needles for mulch. Our next door neighbor had a large pine tree and he welcomed me raking them up for the bushes every Fall. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, good.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
The owner of the pole barn where my shop is ( time-share for the space and tools) uses the shavings I produce in his garden and around all of his pine trees ( wind-break against winter winds). Since all I use is pine and oak, he's had no problems. I did get four legs tapered today, a bit warm though, "Heat Index" was in the 90s again. I just used an old Stanley 110 block plane, and they came out alright. Legs were aout 25" long, taper started 5" below the "top". Legs tapered from 1-1/2" down to 1" at the foot. Not much, but just enough.
Our issue is not having any large pine trees! Several miles away I know of a few along the road, but I wonder what kind of trouble I'd be making for myself by raking needles along the road? I've even looked into ordering some from down south! Blueberries are a long term investment that are worth the effort (same as asparagus, strawberries, etc.). Anyone can grow lettuce!
Tony,
We used to mulch ours about every other year in the Fall just before snowfall.
Find out who owns 'em, prolly the state if near the road. Take a tarp and rake the needles onto it, ball it up and throw in yer pickup. Quick as a bunny.
Then agin I could do it fer ye. Imagine that, I could be the Pine Needle baron of Kidderville!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 6/27/2009 8:04 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
W,
I see more and more folks moving toward dustfree woodworking. I like your approach.
Others have given you alternatives for tapering. Try the "Swedish carving axe" by Gransfors Bruks. I got mine two years ago for use in making bowls from green wood. Most axe blades have a rounded bevel on both sides. This one has a flat bevel on one side which lets you make a cut and then lets you continue the cut in a straight line.
Of course, I would only use this on "rustic" furniture. :-)
Have fun.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
I'm not quite ready to swing an axe, yet( unless I goof on a part, then it becomes FIREWOOD), but the plane idea does work well. In the past, I've tried "Norm's" tablesaw jig( left too many burn marks to clean up) , a jointer( not my cup of tea, fingers too close to the cutterhead), "free-hand" on a tablesaw( just follow the line, and hope there is no kick-back) and on the bandsaw( hard to cut STRAIGHT lines). Every one of these results in my having to clean up saw-marks and other "dippity-dos", so I just went with the planes only. Kind of like getting rid of the "middleman", just plane to the line and you're done. One "face" would be done in the time it took to write all of this. The only "jig" I need is a good straight edge to lay out the line, and a good vise to hold the leg. Simple?
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