Greetings
I am making plans for building a pair of cherry end tables. I will be tapering legs, on two sides. Being naturally lazy, I was considering doing one of the tapers on my planer. I’ve only tapered before on the tablesaw, and don’t have a lot of confidence with it.
I will be making the legs out of a suitable piece of 8/4 cherry wide enough to make 4-6 of the legs. I am thinking that I could taper the whole slab on my 12 1/2″ Delta planer, then rip the individual legs. I would do the second taper with bandsaw and hand plane.
Any reason for or against this? From my research, it sounds like more people use the jointer than the planer for tapering. I am looking for a shortcut (sic) because I could be making several more of these tables if the first pair turns out well. Any input welcome.
Replies
Stan, if you are going to make lots of them it makes sense to make sure thay are all the same by taking out the guesswork. Make up a right angle (L shaped) cradle jig like in the image attached out of MDF or ply and put the taper (profile) on the exposed edges of the jig.
Then you can rough bandsaw the taper on the leg blank, screw the sawn leg blank into the jig and use a spindle moulder with a bearing guided planer cutter. Failing that use a router and top or bottom bearing pattern cutting bit to trim off the last 2-3 mm of wood to an exact and repeatable profile.
Far more efficient than your planned convoluted method. Slainte.
Stan,
I did something similar, to taper canoe paddles. I made a tapered (in thickness) sled to hold the blank. It had a strip attached to the end to keep the blank from sliding backwards as it went through the planer.
You could use it to plane the second side after you rip the legs apart. As a matter of fact, I'd recommend that you rip them, and then flatten,before tapering at all, as often they will want to move (bow) as they are ripped apart.
I use a jig on the table saw to taper legs, followed by a light pass over the jointer. More than one way to skin a cat, as they say...
Regards,
Ray
Thanks Sgian
I failed to mention that they will be straight tapers, ala Shaker style. I thought the planer would be easier than the jointer. However, next project involves tapers like your drawing, so you given me a step ahead.
Joinerswork. I didn't think about movement after ripping, so I appreciate that tip. I will rip before planing. This is some stunning 25+ year old air-dried cherry (don't ask me where I got it) so I am anxious to avoid wasting any.
I hate changing planer knifes and what you describe would certiantly eat up some knife life. Pluss it would take a long time. Use a band saw or table saw.
Mikeplease excuse my spelling.
Stan, Straight tapers, curves, it doesn't really matter. A jig based on the drawing shown leads to consistent and exact repeatability of the profile every time.
Besides, roughing the profile out, whether tapered or curved is comparatively safe on the bandsaw and can be done freehand. The tapering jigs are very good at getting people into trouble on the table saw. Slainte.RJFurniture
There's always heaps of ways to skin the cat, as someone above noted.
My technique of choice is over the planer (jointer, buzzer ... whatever) with the taper marked out on each leg. Use a stop so that the taper begins where you want it to begin, and the fence set at 90 degrees, and a light cut, and freehand up to the pencil mark, finishing with a few light passes with a hand plane. Quick, easy, safe, and fun.
With my new Minimax dimension saw, I'd be tempted to put my (far too) expensive airfreighted Freud saw blade to use, and use a tapering jig fixed to the sliding table. One pass, a couple of touch-ups, and done!
With small (work box) legs from rare timber, in the past, and where the taper was only fractions of an inch, I've done the whole job with a long hand plane.
A band saw can be used ... a router can be used. It depends often on how many. For a one-off, do what seems best with the gear and expertise you've got to hand. For a production job, think about minutes (and material) saved, and design something efficient.
Whichever way, I'd do them one at a time!
MalcolmNew Zealand | New Thinking
Stan,
I still use a table saw for tapering - the jig takes about 30 seconds to cut on the bandsaw.
It is possible as Richard said to use a shaper, and this is a convenient way.
To use a thicknesser for tapering legs, you need a jig as shown in the attached pic. (edit: rough sketch)
A lot of work for something you'll be using only once or twice, but very useful for a production run.
Cheers,
eddie
Edited 11/11/2004 7:03 am ET by eddie (aust)
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