Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | May 16, 2007 07:36pm | #1

   You should be uncomfortable, balancing a piece you are ripping on the "pointed" edge is definitely unstable and could lead to an accident.  I would also doubt that you could get a straight cut that would later glue up invisibly.

   First off, this approach to making legs that are quarter sawn on all four faces is very difficult.  Most woodworkers have a great deal of trouble getting the long glue joints to close up seamlessly.

   The first thing I would suggest for a small cross section leg is to make the leg out of solid wood with the grain oriented to give two opposing faces of quarter sawn.  Then glue shop made quarter sawn veneer to the two plain faces.  After sanding and finishing the leg will look like solid wood with quarter sawn on all sides. 

   For a larger leg, build a simple butt jointed box with two sides of quarter sawn and then veneer the two remaining sides, which would show the seams between the pieces, with quarter sawn veneer.

   If you want to cut the elements of the leg using beveled edges, you will need to make a simple jig.  The backbone of the jig would be a piece of 3/4' MDF about 6" wide and as long as, or slightly longer than, the leg pieces you are ripping the edges off of. 

   After cutting one beveled edge off of a leg piece, rip it to the final width of the piece, or draw a line down the length of the leg segment, on the outer face, at the desired width of the segment's wider outer face. 

   Now attach the beveled segment, using double sided tape, to the 6" wide face of the MDF.  The wider face of the leg segment would be the side that goes against the MDF board, and the long, still square edge, of the ripped to width leg would be flush with the long edge of the MDF.  If you drew a line on the outer face of the leg, rather than ripping it to width, the line would be even with the edge of the MDF board. 

   On the opposite edge of the MDF, attach a strip of scrap leg stock, the same thickness as the piece about to be ripped, just a bit in from the long edge.

   Now flip the jig over so that the blank MDF side is up and the two taped on wood strips are against the saw's table top.  By moving the rip fence, line up the jig to rip off the second beveled edge of the leg segment while just missing the MDF jig.

   Use heavy duty carpet tape, the type with a cloth backing, to attach the strips to the MDF.  You will only need a few pieces of tape, one at either end, and one or two along the length of the leg to get a solid attachment to the MDF.  Don't use a continuous strip of tape, it will be too hard to remove the strip after ripping off the edge.  With care, you can rip several strips before the tape starts to lose its grip and will have to be replaced.

   Hope this is clear and helps,

   John White  

    

   
   

   ---

   Edited 5/16/2007 12:39 pm ET by JohnWW

1. 
   man | May 17, 2007 07:15pm | #2

   Thank you John for the in-depth reply. I guess this explains why Stickley used a molding machine to create the interlocking profile on each leg. Seems a lot easier. I've looked at the 45 degree miter lock router bit and will explore this option more. I am going to work with your ideas and see how it goes.

   Thanks again