How to add detail to table/chair legs?

[Jan Bianchi]

If I wanted to add contrasting detail to the tips of madrone chair and table legs in something like walnut, would it be better to epoxy a 3/4 inch piece of walnut to the ends of the legs, or to encase the end like a boot, but flush with the leg? Or, structurally at least, would it be better not to do it at all? It's short grain to short grain, so the it doesn't seem very strong.

[Dave MacArthur]

Inlay something like a spade shape on all four sides. Stronger, more showy, more attention to the contrast. If you can pick a shape that plays off any strong grain pattern, great.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yeah, endgrain to endgrain gluing isn't very secure, particularly on the ends of chair legs where they're going to see big loads. Consider making something like a peg. The shaft of the peg would fit up inside the end of the leg. The head of the peg would be what you want people to look at. The sides of the peg glue to the inside of the hole in the leg with a facegrain to facegrain glue joint -- much stronger.

[Doug Shepard]

If I were doing this I would make some 1/16" thick veneer then rabbet out the ends of the legs and glue the veneer on. It would be all long grain glue joints and still have solid wood (with no joint) through the central part of the leg.

[Brian D Anderson]

I used a couple dowels when I made maple "feet" for this table:



I'm not sure how well that would work for a chair though. I assume if you got a large enough dowel, it should be strong enough(?)

-Brian

[Jeff Monson]

I'd agree, end to end grain joint on a chair that sees uneven and heavy loads, plus frequent movement, would not hold up well, I would not be afraid to do it on a table however. I used dominos to attach ebony to mohagony for the legs of a desk I built.

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