orepass

When I began woodworking, the thought of making a curve was very intimidating. Looking at a piece of furniture I found it difficult to envision how shapes were made and what tools are required. Thanks to the internet and classes from Paul Sellers, I realize that with a little practice most things are possible. The shaped legs are really a matter of using hand planes to cut to the desired shape or trim with a saw and shape with a plane.

The leg design has curves on the two inner sides leaving the outside edges flat. The result of this design is that layout has to be done for one side at a time, else you cut off the pencil marks. There are several ways to remove the waste, Chisel, Bandsaw, Saw. Previously as shown in the link I did this with a saw and chisel. It’s quick and efficient. Using Cherry I wasn’t sure if the technique would work as well and didn’t want to have a chisel dive out of the waste into the leg. So I opted to use a bandsaw to remove the majority of the waste and then a plane to smooth the leg.

The photograph shows the curve already on the left side of the leg and progress on the curve on the top of the leg. It’s amazing how much the color of the leg had changed in just a couple of days. Notice the top area where I am planing to the line vs the section on the lower part of the picture.

I also took the opportunity to chamfer the edges on the bottom of the leg to prevent tear out. Again this was done with a sharp hand plane.