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would provide a stable base for the small plunge router I used
to cut the mortises (above).
Impossible Legs
Like a lot of Arts & Crafts furniture, the legs are an important
element. The problem with quartersawn oak in this situation
is two-fold: Thick stock usually isn’t available, and the edge
grain is ugly compared to the face grain. There are several
ways to work around this, and the method I developed shows
quartersawn fi gure on all four faces of the legs, and is rela-
tively simple to mill and assemble.
I could have laminated the legs from thinner stock and
then veneered the edges, but I have seen too many old pieces
constructed this way that have cracks in the veneer. Quarter-
After tracing the pattern on the basswood pan-
e l s , t h e d e sig n of s as s af r as le av e s is c ar v e d.The completed carving is given a wash coat of shel-
lac, then colors are applied with watercolor pencils.The colors are blended with an artist’s brush
dipped in water.After the coloring is complete, the panels are allowed to dry several days before being fi nished with
amber shellac.Doors carved, then colored
sawn wood moves more in thickness than in width, so there’s
a good chance that this method will eventually fail.
Mitering four pieces together is a logical alternative, but
without some way to keep the pieces from sliding during glue-
up, assembly can be very diffi cult. In the early 1900s, Leopold
Stickley developed a method that used rabbeted miters to
form what he called a quadralinear leg. It’s a good method,
but without the custom-made shaper cutters he used it is dif-
fi cult to mill.
Looking for a simpler method, I realized that by making the
front and back pieces of the legs a different thickness than the
sides, I could make two of the pieces with simple miters, and
use a small rabbet on the thicker pieces to keep the parts from
sliding during assembly. The photos on pages 47-48 show the
steps I took.
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