Octagonal tapered legs

[rosinante]

Chaps is there a safe way to cut octagonal tapered legs on a table saw? A pic of any jigs would be appreciated, they are for a stool , the fat end will have a round tenon turned on it ,
Cheers
Chris

 

[steve355]

By the time you’ve set up a table saw to do it you’d have finished the job with a plane. You’d also get a proper finish straight off the blade.

 

[Jacob]

Chaps is there a safe way to cut octagonal tapered legs on a table saw? A pic of any jigs would be appreciated, they are for a stool , the fat end will have a round tenon turned on it ,
Cheers
Chris

I made some here Post a photo of the last thing you made
slab bolted to two 3 leg trestles
Legs sawn square on bandsaw
corners sawn off to make octagonal on 45º tilted table
Planed facets by hand
turned to make a round tenon one end.
Band saw easy - to make them taper much the same I guess.
Table saw more difficult, would need to take care with two push sticks. Perhaps a long sled holding each end rather then trying to cut with tilted blade. Or saw them square section with taper and do the rest with hand plane, to save having to saw the facets on a TS.
Or turn the whole tapered leg and then hand plane the facets?

 

[chemist_dan]

Microjig make a tapered cutting jig for use on the tablesaw that can be used for this:
https://www.yandles.co.uk/microjig-...FI2Aev3vVFrA07ERIetbDWiZkU00kzHhoCir0QAvD_BwE
Looks like its recommended to use in conjuction with at least one of their GRR-Ripper push blocks (I think it connects onto the jig?).

 

[Jacob]

Microjig make a tapered cutting jig for use on the tablesaw that can be used for this:
https://www.yandles.co.uk/microjig-...FI2Aev3vVFrA07ERIetbDWiZkU00kzHhoCir0QAvD_BwE
Looks like its recommended to use in conjuction with at least one of their GRR-Ripper push blocks (I think it connects onto the jig?).

Bloody expensive!
For @rosinante 's purposes I envisage something like an elongated G clamp made of wood but with the centre-line off-set to provide the taper.
If the legs are 2" max then a length of 2x4" with a cutout for the leg and a bolt at one end to tighten and hold the leg.
Could do a sketch if that would help.

 

[rosinante]

Thank you for your replies , table saw idea scrapped , I am considering either planing by hand or first prepping timber 1.75 ins sq , turning a 1 inch tenon one end , the other a short 7/8 dia tenon , then building a simple slotted platform jig for a router setting one end at the 1.75 end height and the other at the other 7/ 8 end forming a sloping platform, then with a router and bottom cut bit cutting one facet , then index around 1/8 of a turn , repeat until done , same with other legs , a final skim with a sharp plane , done , that's the idea anyway ,
Cheers

 

[recipio]

I would build a sliding router box with eight indexing pins. Don't ask me for plans as I already have a Legacy Mill , an American product bought on impulse at a show of course. With a flat router bit it gives amazingly accurate and smooth results.

 

[niall Y]

I used to make chairs with octagonal tapered legs. before I had access to my lathe. They were planed on a sloping cradle that was passed through the thicknesser of my planer, taking several passes to form each face. The round tenon was cut with a1" dia. hole cutter, with the leg clamped to the rotated and aligned bed of my pillar drill

One system I used, only planed opposing faces, which meant that the top and bottom of the leg were out of register, so had to be recut to establish their correct relationship to the leg. If you have access to a lathe, this could easily be done. along with turning a tapered tenon to the top.

Another cradle I experimented with allowed me to take equal amounts off each face, so this problem didn't arise. This system relied on drilling a hole in the top of the leg, this had a steel rod (another drill bit) placed in it. This was used to fix the correct alignment of the slope If I am remembering correctly, the leg was further supported from beneath with interchangeable cradle profiles.
I will be reusing this method, or a variation of, on a Welsh Stick Chair, I hope to be making in the New Year.

 

[Jacob]

Lots of ideas here!
If doing it entirely by hand the most useful thing is marking up. Each end of the blank scribe a circle of the desired size. Mark in the octagon to fit outside it, then plane to the lines. Finish each facet completely before moving on to the next one, to keep it neat and tidy and under control

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

I'd do a combination tbh. Cutting a 4 sided tapered leg on a table saw is trivial. Although it's easier with a nice adjustable tapering jig, an improvised 1 time use jig with a piece of ply and a couple of stop blocks screwed to it should take only a few minutes to create.

Cut your 4 sided tapered legs, and then mark up per Jacob's instructions above to hand plane the other 4 sides sides.

You may be able to only hand plane one side of each leg, to give yourself a flat edge to return to your improvised tapering jig (the jig may need adjusting).

 

[Jamesc]

I had a similar dilema a year or so ago. I followed Jacobs advice given above and it turned out perfectly. I have a tendancy to overtink things as I can only get to the workshop on weekends so have the week to 'plan'. Make sure your plane is good and sharp and follow Jacobs instructions above is my suggestion.