wood direction in table legs

[JMadson Custom Wood]

Looking to build a table base similar to the picture.

Are the legs built out of a single (albeit possibly glued together) board?

If each leg is one piece, which way is the grain running? I assume straight up and down.

thanks

Joe

[Beechwood Chip]

Check out the sculpted end table videos (parts 1 through 6). Marc's design has similar legs to yours, and he goes into a lot of step by step detail on every aspect of the project.

[JMadson Custom Wood]

That was good, but I think I should have mentioned that this is going to be a 48" diameter kitchen table, with a granit top. I need this to hold up some weight.

[fransikaner]

As my very poor eyes look at the photo, it appears that the wood grain has a straight y-axis run. This might possibly suggest veneer over a built-up leg assembly.

If you re going for strength and stability, I would consider laminating two 3/4 pieces of baltic ply together and then veneering the outer skin.

This would allow you to cut a nice complex figure out of one template.

The alternative is making each leg out of 4/4 or 8/4 lumber, either in upper and lower with joints or in one section.

The more I think about it, I would go the ply route. You could even build up lams on the side faces to introduce some slight curves/roundness.

I would also consider going with a thick glass top if you want to highlight your woodwork, because the granite is going to obscure your craftsmanship.

Food for thought on what looks to be a really neat project.

[scsmith42]

From what I can tell they glued two quartersawn boards together side to side with the grain running vertically. The leg on the left side in the photo appears to exhibit a glue line (different colored wood) to the immediate left of the curve in the middle of the leg.

I think that I would want to use some dowells between the two pieces in order to add more shear strength to the joint.