How to veneer square table legs?

[Jacaruso]

I'd like to build 3"x3" square table legs using 8/4 walnut. I'm thinking I could glue two boards (2x3 each) together and then veneer each side using 1/8" veneer cut from the same board. If I go this route, do I miter the edges of the veneer to hide the seam? Can I chamfer the edges afterward or am I stuck?

 

[Roy G]

I would miter the edges of the pieces of the board and glue up 4 of them, making the 3" leg. This way, no veneering and you would be able to chamfer the edges after the glue up..

Roy G

 

[KenOfCary]

I have done the 4-way (actually 5 piece glue-up) on the legs for my Prairie Settle (Sofa) so that the Ray Flek showed on all 4 sides. For a 3" finished width you'll need an inside piece that is approximately 1-1/2" square on the inside if you use 3/4" outside pieces. Or 1" square inside if you use 1" stock for the outside.

If you can find a 12+" wide board for the legs you can make the grain wrap all the way around the leg.

Like this.

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[Jeff]

Why veneer squat? Walnut is so dark that a glue line (TBIII is dark) won't show after you prep it and finish it. Who'll see it besides you?

Rip the 8/4 a little over 3" wide and glue 2 pieces together as a laminate. Trim to 3" x 3" as needed.

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[Joe Scharle]

I've not had success gluing up walnut like Jeff, but I have had luck doing legs with a lock miter. Makes no difference in the orientation.
(The pieces were offset slightly so as to show up on the pic.)

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Those legs were used on this..
I was able to epoxy nuts in the legs
to mount the stud casters.

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[Jeff]

I've not had success gluing up walnut like Jeff

Joe,

You have much more experience so I defer to you. I've never glued up walnut as I was suggesting. Tell us why my suggestion hasn't worked for you.

Could a stable solid wood core with a thick walnut veneer work?

Thanks.

 

[Joe Scharle]

Walnut can have pronounced grain and shading within a few inches making the glue line glare. Even if you have a foot or two of very good match, a spot of grain or shade variance is really obvious. Whereas mahogany for example, blends nicely. Lucky for us, wide walnut stock is available.

Walnut veneer butts with a very black line, but will miter nicely; thicker the better!

 

[Jacaruso]

I came home and experimented with veneers for the first time. I cut the walnut veneers 3/16 thick then planed to 1/8. I then glued them to a piece of scrap SYP and chamfered the edges. I can see where I can improve on my method. But do you guys see any potential problems with this?

 

[Weekendworrior]

But do you guys see any potential problems with this?

Gravity is going to work against you. Looks good though.

 

[Jacaruso]

Gravity is going to work against you. Looks good though.

Ha, ha! Yeah, not sure what happened with the pic. I uploaded it from my phone and it came out upside down.

 

[Jeff]

It looks pretty good to my eyes (even upside down). Ken's suggested method with a larger core so you're not wasting that pretty walnut.

I've never done it but like the idea.

 

[Joe Scharle]

At first, I thought he might be from Australia!

 

[ehpoole]

Ha, ha! Yeah, not sure what happened with the pic. I uploaded it from my phone and it came out upside down.

Many cellphones and digital cameras will add header info (EXIF data) to their image file that stores rotation information when the cameras has been rotated away from its "upright" position. However, the actual image data is stored and recorded as if the camera were in its native upright position. So, if you held the camera upside down relative to what the manufacturer deemed to be upright, then the image that gets recorded will actually be recorded upside down. Your camera will show the image right-side up when you view it in-camera since it used the recorded rotation data to transparently rotate the image without you being aware of such.

But, many websites and most web browsers do not use EXIF data, so they are not aware of the added rotation data. As such they will display the photo as it was recorded in the image file, and will do so quite faithfully -- an upside down image will render as upside down. For the photo to display upright it must first be rotated upright physically in a photo editor prior to uploading do that it is properly oriented within the image file (last I tested our Gallery software has issues with manually rotating photos server-side due to a recent bug, I don't know if the Attachment Manager has server-side rotation capabilities for photo formats off hand).