How do you cut your tapered legs?

Dalewood | Posted in General Discussion on April 28, 2004 03:07am

Good morning, I am making a couple of simple nightstands with tapered legs and was just wondering what method you all use to cut the tapers. I know some cut them on a table saw with a tapering jig and some on a band saw. I have even heard of tapering on a jointer, which I have yet to figure out. Thanks in advance for any replies. Dale

Replies

BG | Apr 28, 2004 04:35pm | #1
Dalewood,

I cut my tapers on the TS...with a jig. I do not feel particularly safe cutting them this way...I cut from the top to the bottom. I'm always concerned the stock will rise up on the back of the blade and go flying....it is dificult to hold the stock down with a taper jig.
Dave45 | Apr 28, 2004 04:46pm | #2
I use a simple tapering jig on my table saw. They cost around $20 and are very simple to use. Practice with some samples to figure out the setup and technique. With a good blade in the saw, a little sanding is all that's needed to finish them off.
JMartinsky | Apr 29, 2004 01:44pm | #3
Dear Dale,

I cut my tapers on the jointer. Very consistant. I read the technique on the Fine Woodworking site some months back. Here is the link:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00036.asp

The only thing that I changed was that my cuts are 1/4" not 1/2".

John
RMillard | Apr 29, 2004 01:51pm | #4
I assemble the table dry, and place it on a flat surface. Then using a framing square, I mark a true centerline on the legs, by "squaring up" from the flat surface. This centerline may not, because of small inaccuracies in the shoulder to leg joint, fall exactly on the center of the leg. I then layout the taper from the marked centerline, and saw them on the bandsaw. Because you will saw off the layout lines on two faces, I mark where the tapers layout lines fall on the bottom of the leg and then after two tapers are cut, I redraw the lines on a freshly cut face. A few quick passes with a plane cleans up the saw marks. This method results in perfectly aligned tapers on all the legs, which is especially important on small tables where even a slight deviation is readily apparent. This is also quite safe.

Rob Millard

Edited 4/29/2004 6:57 am ET by RMillard
darbywoods | Apr 29, 2004 01:53pm | #5
on the ts. with a inexpensive jig from woodcraft.

when doing this make sure you mark your legs first for the 4 corners of the table then cut the legs rotating all the legs in the same direction.. I use white chalk for the markings on the legs.

I learned this from experience when all my legs were not made to be equal distance on all sides.

David

http://www.darbynwoods.com

Fingrs | Apr 29, 2004 04:26pm | #6
Although I have one of those $20 tapering jigs I rarely use it for table legs, etc. Rather, I make up a custom jig using a piece of scrap plywood that has blocks at each end to secure the workpiece. I mark the plywood (at least 4" wide) with the taper which I cut on the bandsaw...this edge will butt up against the TS fence. Then I trim the length of the plywood to that of the workpiece and use small blocks to attach the workpiece to the plywood using either screw or brads into the endgrain of the workpiece. This creates a solid assembly that is easily and safely handled. Make sure the brads or screws stay clear of blade, of course!

joker | Apr 29, 2004 05:59pm | #7
I use a tapering jig in my table saw. I got the design from "Shop Notes" I believe. It is a piece of plywood with a hardwood runner that rides in the miter slot. It has a fence at one end with a dowel in it that sticks out about a 1/4 to 3/8". At the other end there is a block/fence with a toggle clamp screwed into it. A hole is drilled into bottom of the leg which then locks into the dowel and the other end of the leg is clamped with the toggle. Just put the leg in, clamp it and saw, unclamp, rotate and saw again. Rotate the leg until all four sides are done.

What I like about the jig is that the leg will always register at its center because of the dowel, so you don't have to adjust to account for what has been cut off. I also like the fact that the piece is locked securly in the jig so I am not trying to hold it with my hand, what I don't particularly care about is that you have to have one for different lengths of legs and thicknesses as well, because the placement of the block for the clamp affects where the taper begins. I probably did not explain the design to well, but it is pretty simple to make from scraps. I have seen some more elaborate designs of the same concept but I like the simple one.
stephengaal | Apr 29, 2004 06:12pm | #8
I use both a tablesaw with a tapering jig and a bandsaw with finishing to the line with a smoothing plane.

The tablesaw approach is much faster; the bandsaw safer.

Stephen J. Gaal
4DThinker | Apr 29, 2004 06:51pm | #9
Draw the taper line on the wood.

Cut just outside of the line with a good bandsaw.

Smooth with one pass on the jointer or a smoothing plane.

Even if you cut using a taper jig on the table saw, I recommend cutting just outside of your finished line. Then smooth with one pass on the jointer. Any burns or saw marks are then easily removed this way, and if you are a careful calibrator, the 1/16" you left on the saw will disappear with a 1/16" pass on the jointer.

Hope that helps.

4DThinker

patternmaker | Apr 29, 2004 09:11pm | #10
I make my tapered legs with a homemade taper jig on the band saw. To me, it seems a safer approach. A light pass over the jointer makes the leg ready for sanding.The legs may not be EXACTLY all the same but any small error does not detract from the finished product. Be certain to keep all the thin wedges left over from the taper cuts. You will find them useful fo all sorts of gluing and clamping operations.

Work Safely ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬PAT¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

billballeza | Apr 29, 2004 10:53pm | #11
Dale.. I use my jointer for tapering legs and get excellent results.

Here's how I do it:

Rotate the cutterhead until one of the blades is at it's highest point at the center of the fence. Place a piece of masking tape (or some other mark) on the fence at this point so that you know where the blades begin cutting. (Make sure the tape is high enough on the fence not to be scraped away when you make a pass with your table leg)

If you want to begin the taper at say, 5 inches from the top, measure five inches to the left of center (on the outfeed side of the table) and place another piece of masking tape on the fence.

Now you should have two pieces of tape five inches apart on the fence.

Set your blade height to 1/16.. turn on the machine.. and gently lower your table leg onto the cutter so that the top of the leg is even with the tape on the outfeed side of the fence.. and push the leg onto the outfeed table until you complete a pass.

You are going to take the exact same number of passes on two parallel sides of the leg.. one side at a time.

For example.. if you take 10 passes on each side.. you are going to remove 10/16" or 5/8" from EACH SIDE. The total taper will be 1 1/4".

One other tip.. if you are going to make ten passes on each side.. make your tenth and final pass on each side.. along the entire length of the leg. This cleans up the start point of the taper.

I find that with this method you have a taper that requires only a tiny amount of clean up.. if any.

Now, if your jointer is not properly set up or tuned, be sure to overcut the length of the legs so that you can trim whatever amount of "snipe" you experience with your jointer.

I've tapered legs on the table saw and band saw and both operations go more quickly.. initially.. but then require a fair amount of time cleaning up the cuts.

I think you will be very happy with the results you get with your jointer.

Bill
TomS | Apr 30, 2004 05:09am | #12
Dalewood,

I've always cut mine on the bandsaw and then finish them up with a handplane. Couple of good ways to get this done...

Tom
TimLoupe | Apr 30, 2004 06:11am | #13
I just built a table with tapered legs.What I did was built a simple sled that used the fence as a guide.I used a peice of plywood and screwed stops on it so the part of the leg you want removed hangs off the plywood , and set the fence to the width of the plywood. Hint , make sure you start off with square stock . This can give you a taper on one or two sides of the leg , just always keep a square side down and against the stops on your jig.

301 | Apr 30, 2004 06:40am | #15
I use the jointer, it is very quick and requires very little set-up time.

A word of caution: Be careful...either the Jointer or the Table Saw method has the potential to be dangerous. Think it through, practice on scrap, use push blocks and every other safety technique you can think of.

On the jointer if you loose your grip while making the cut the leg becomes a missle and fast! I screw a scrap strip of plywood into the center of the top for my left hand to grip (perpendicular to the leg being cut) and use a push block with my right hand. If your infeed table is long enough you might try a stop block for positioning and safety, does anyone else agree?

yieldmap | Apr 30, 2004 06:36am | #14
Jointer...works out great with just 2 passes:

Measure the amount of "flat" area you want at the top of the taper, or the amount of skirt you will have. Take the remainder of the leg and divide it in half. Clamp a block that distance (the 1/2 measurement) from the beginning of the cutterhead cut. For example, on a 20" tall leg with a 3" skirt, take 17" / 2 for 8.5". Clamp a stop block 8.5" down the outfeed from the beginning of the cutterhead.

Set your jointer depth to 1/2 of the finished taper depth. Run the table leg until it hits the stop (1/2 of the taper length) with the bottom of the leg entering the cutterhead first. I typically run all the legs I want to taper the first pass at this time. Then, remove the stop and flip the legs over. This time run the leg through with the top, or skirt end first, by "popping a wheelie." The two points of contact initially will be the center point and the bottom of the leg. Run it through slowly to avoid chipout, and you will see a perfectly tapered leg. They're smooth, and require a quick pass with the sander before assembly.

I read an article describing this and it works great. Take a couple pieces of 20" long scrap and practice. The technique comes quick.

yieldmap
Telemike | Apr 30, 2004 07:02am | #16
Like many others here, I cut the tapers on the TS. I use a homemade jig pretty much like the commercial ones (except that it's MINE). If it's a single taper (one side), I cut each one quickly and repeatably.

If both sides of the leg taper, I cut one side on each, then attach one of the wedge shaped cutoffs to the jig with two sided tape, and cut the other side of each leg. So on for three and four side tapers.

One benefit is that you end up with a bunch of low angle hardwood wedges that are very useful around the shop!