Hi,
I’m going to be building a table that has fluted legs, very similar to the Chippendale table in this photo http://www.drdimes.com/pdf/2124.pdf .
Does anyone know of either a good jig (homemade or commercial) or method to accurately produce this narrow fluting?
Thanks very much in advance.
Replies
The best way to make these flutes is with a scratch beader. Commercial ones include the Stanley 66, the Lie-Nielsen copy of the 66, and the Lee Valley veritas beading tool. The blades for the Lie-Nielsen model fit the Stanley 66 just fine.
The scratch beaders allow making the tops of the flutes tapered, like the period pieces, instead of round like you would get with a router. Besides the "oops" factor on the router is just to great for me.
marlon
You can make them on your router table or a shaper (which is what I use) with a fluting bit. By marking the beginning and ending of the cut on your fence, you can start and stop them easily, and still get that taper Steve is talking about.
Jeff
If these are to be used in period reproductions, they will look significantly better, in my opinion, made with the beaders than with a router, taper or not. Any imperfections will be of the same kind as in the originals, no router ripples. In addition, the router bits may, or may not, have the proper spacing between the flutes. Roughy the difference between Leigh jig dovetails and hand cut dovetails.
Steve
After reading his post, I didn't get the impression that he was trying to replicate a period piece. It sounded to me like he was asking for a jig or better mousetrap for making flutes in a table leg.
Jeff
Possibly, but the example was a Chippendale table, from a manufacturer that specializes in such things. Perhaps I jumped to the conclusion.
Steve/Jeff/Routerman,I greatly appreciate all your comments. While the router/shaper ideas are good, I think I would go with Steve's recommendation of the beader. I can't believe I completely forgot about beader tools. While the table I'm making does not have to be 100% historically faithful, I try to do so wherever and whenever possible. I'm also much more confident of myself when using a hand tool on such fine fluting than with a router...I would probably use a router if I was doing fluting on some door casing.Having just researched both the Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen beaders, they both seem like good options. However, I would think having the two handles on the Lie-Neilsen would be a little more stable and efficient when producing many legs. Any opintions on this? Certainly the price on the Lee Valley beader is about 1/4 the price, so attractive from that point of view.Thanks
But also check out e-bay for the Stanley 66. It should have both fences--a square one and a rounded one and the thumbscrew holding the blades in. The blades can easily be replaced using the Lie-Neilsen ones. If you can wait a week or so you can save a bundle. But nothing wrong with the L-N since is virtually identical to the 66.
Can be routed handily with double edge guide, see pix.
More on the setup: At the Link.
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