curved leg joinery question

[outofstepper]

Greets all.

I've been poking my head in the Neanderthal section mostly, but figured this

question might be more appropriate here.

I plan to start working on this curved leg table soon from fine woodworking:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDFfree/curved-leg-table.pdf

If you'd rather not have a look at that pdf there are some key elements that

bring me to my question:

1. these legs are curved on all sides. there are no reference flats left after

shaping the leg.

2. the article recommends cutting the mortises in the legs after the forming is done.

3. the article shows how to build a jig and form the legs using a router table.

I'll be doing these all by hand. I assume the mortises are cut after shaping by using

the jig to hold them in place.

Since I won't have a jig (only a template) -- when would be the best time to cut

the mortise? When the stock is still square? If not, how would I locate them correctly?

Thanks!

-Tony

[Bob Rozaieski]

I'd cut them while the stock is still square. The curve isn't so dramatic that it should impact the final fit-up. You'll have to wait until the shaping is done to fit the tenons though.

[Pete Bennett]

I'd cut them while the stock is still square. The curve isn't so dramatic that it should impact the final fit-up. You'll have to wait until the shaping is done to fit the tenons though.

Bob is absolutely right here. Trying to hand chop a mortice in a curved leg without a really well fitting jig to hold it would be a fools nightmare. Once you've chopped the mortices and finished all the shaping I would fit the tenons in very gentle stages, trimming a little at a time. Once every thing is perfect I' mask the shoulder section on the leg and the tenon on the rails and finish the whole, staining, polishing etc. right up to the very final polish off or what ever you intend, before glue up. That way you'll avoid any possible build up around the joints.

[outofstepper]

Thanks guys, that makes sense to me too.

I think I could cut all the joinery when all the stock is square

and leave the tenons on the rails short. Meaning, the overall length

of the rail + 2 tenons would be my final size. I think if I cut the tenon

short (1/8" or so?) I could fit everything up square and use a set of dividers

to copy the arc of the leg onto the face of the rail.

I think if i set my dividers to the gap (caused by the curve against the square

shoulder of the rail), I should be able to keep everything square while I pare

the fit.

Though I can already see the viscious cycle I'll get into that'll leave me with

a hall table thats 14" x 8" -- but it'll be square dammit!

[RenaissanceWW]

Ditto to everything above. I would layout the curves on the legs then sketch in the mortise profile so you can see if you need to make them deeper to accomodate for stock remove to fit the curve. Like Bob said however, the curve doesn't look so extreme that you would lose more than a fraction of an inch in mortise depth. I would go so far to say that cutting these legs by hand would be the more efficient way to do it and not messing with all the jiggery.

[outofstepper]

... and not messing with all the jiggery.

ha! you make that sound so.. *dirty*.

[jon003]

No matter what the author recommends, I'd be cutting those mortises ahead of time. You can always take a mortise chisel and drop another 1/4" of depth in the bottom of your mortise.