Tapering table legs on inside, outside or all around?
mmdurocher
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’ve decided after nearly two years of working from home that I should build myself a proper desk rather than working from the dining or living room. (I’m sure my spouse would appreciate that too!) I’ve decided to make a simple Shaker-style secretary desk so that the fold-down top can hide my laptop and mess. As I’ve looked around for design inspiration from other furniture, I see that sometimes legs are taped on the inside faces and sometimes on the outside faces!… the latter surprised me!… is that a mistake or is that a “thing”? Is it just a matter of design choices or is there a “right way”?
Replies
You can taper legs whichever way you like. Normal practice is to keep a flat & square area on the inside where your aprons will be joined to the legs. Cut your joinery before you make the tapers to keep life simple.
Easiest is to leave the inside faces flat and taper the outside.
IMO it kind of depends on what the whole piece will look like. Shaker is a simple style so I prefer tapering the insides (two sides) rather than four. That keeps a straight line from top to floor when viewed from the front or side. Plus I find it a lot easier to make a jig to just taper two sides.
It would be interesting to see what the different options look like in 3D. I'm no expert at 3D, but I'd like to see differences.
Am in the process of completing 5 end tables with 4 side tapered legs. It’s makes decisions and orientation mindless
You can taper anything you like. It gets more complex the more you taper though.
Original Shaker pieces used mostly square posts where the aprons attached. Everything was 90 degrees. Then the inside 2 faces were tapered.
That's what I think looks best, personally. I always cut my joinery on square posts, before tapering, too.
There are many ways of tapering a leg. As an option, consider freehanding the line on a bandsaw and then cleaning up with a handplane. Minor imperfections won't show and it bypasses the need of building, using, and keeping a tablesaw tapering jig.
Thanks for this suggestion. It would also save me some of my limited wood supply disappearing into dust on the wider table saw blade. I'll give this a try!
For me it's all sides, or just the insides.
I don't like only the outside being tapered - just looks wrong.
4 side tapers look delicate, 2 sides look strong but elegant.
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