Curved table legs are brittle - help!

[Jeff Skory]

Hi All,

My son is working on a table of his own design. He has the top partially completed, nice checkboard pattern of oak and mahogany. He then decided to add four pedestal legs that go down at a slight angle and then flair out along the floor.

He found a piece of what I think is oak (not real sure) that is about 1.5" - 1.75" thick. He then cut the legs out with a sabre saw.

(band saw coming as soon as Uncle Sam gives me back my money )

As you can see in the picture the grain runs pretty much perpendicular to the leg. I know this makes for a weak leg toward the bottom but the wood is pretty thick.

Anyway, the leg fell off the tablesaw onto the concrete floor and broke where it shows it in the picture. (high quality I might add ).

I told my son that it was probably better to have it break now while it is rough rather than after he has put a lot of effort into shaping and sanding the leg.

So the questions are:

1) what direction should the grain run to make a stronger leg. If it just ran horizontally then I would think the main leg would be weak.

2) Are some wood types better for legs than others?

3) Is the answer just not to let pieces fall onto the floor.

Thanks for you help.

[Jeff Skory]

might help if I add the picture I was talking about.

[Todd Burch]

Jeff, yes, it is always better to have an early failure. This is the kind of event that causes you to become a better woodworker - fixing mistakes!

A couples ways to fix it. Probably more too.

First, you could always just epoxy it back on. This could also be done after you apply the finish. However, there would be 3 more legs waiting for the same fix.

Next, you could make a spline, as I show in the drawing. Set up your tablesaw, or bandsaw, (or tenon saw) to kerf out a chunk on the middle of the foot, and then place a cross grain spline into the hole. You will be making, essentially, a piece of 3-ply plywood on the foot and it would be very strong.

Third, instead of a spline, you could drill a hole and insert a dowel and epoxy that in there. The hole could be blind, or you could drill all the way through from front to back and make the end of the dowel a design element.

Let us know!! Todd

[Mark Singer]

It is likely to break there it is the weak direction of the wood. As Todd suggested if it were splined or more axial (More vertical) it would be stronger.

[Jeff Skory]

Todd,

Thanks for the explanation and the very nice picture. I have not read about either of those two techniques yet.

I'll definitely post pictures when he is done.

Jeff