My favorite project for new woodworking students is a Virginia side table because it introduces them to most of the tools they are likely to encounter in a shop. The table has legs with two-sided tapers. I never felt it was safe to have the students cut the tapers on the tablesaw, so I set out to find a better way. I came up with a simple carriage that goes through the thickness planer with one end of the leg elevated.

For the carriage, I used a 3/4-in.-thick MDF base a couple of inches longer and wider than the table leg. (You could make it wide enough to hold multiple legs.) I screwed a block at one end to elevate the bottom of the table leg by the amount of taper desired. To complete the carriage, I fastened pieces of wood to the sides of the MDF base.

To use the fixture, I simply drop in a table leg and send it through the planer. Orient the leg so you’re planing “downhill,” and take multiple passes to reach full depth. Then give the leg a quarter turn and plane it again. To save wear and tear on the planer, it’s a good idea to rough out the taper on the bandsaw. It might take a few minutes more than using a tablesaw, but it is absolutely safe and, as a bonus, there are no saw marks to sand off.

click to enlarge

Drawings: Jim Richey

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