# Shaping chair legs?



## Zircon (Aug 1, 2009)

I am about to start making four dining room chairs. The back leg and seat back is one piece 39" high with a slight curve. The stock will be 1and 3/4" x 1and1/2". I made a prototype last summer by bandsawing the legs and then clamping them together and beltsanding them to the line. 
Since I have to make eight pieces I was thinking of bandsawing them rough and then making a pattern and using a hand held router to trim to the pattern. I can see mounting the pattern to plywood and clamping it to the work bench but I am not seeing how to clamp the workpiece to the pattern without interfering with the router. Do a small section and then move the clamps and do that section?
Or am I better off beltsanding them two at a time?
I would appreciate insights and advice.


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## wdkits1 (Jan 16, 2009)

I have made table legs by making a plywood template and attaching it to my blank using double-sided tape then cutting it on the bandsaw to with-in 1/8" to get the rough outline. Then set up a flush cut bit on the router table and trim it to the template. Works everytime. Just have to watch out for tear out on end grain by taking shallow cuts.


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

+1 on the double sided tape. I used it last week to make the runners for a rocking horse I made and it worked like a champ. Don't worry about the pattern shifting. It won't.


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## pabloj13 (Dec 10, 2009)

Do you guys have any pictures of that sort of setup in action?


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## Zircon (Aug 1, 2009)

*double stick tape*

I've never used it and I would not have thought of it. Thanks for your help.


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## fullofit (Mar 18, 2014)

I am shaping and tapering chair legs with a thickness that goes up to 1 and 1/2" thick and wondering if that is too thick for the jig and router trick? Someone advised me to just separately bandsaw then clean up on jointer but I am concerned about them all matching??
Any suggestions?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

What I would expect to happen is half the leg would cut fine but the other half you would be running it against the grain and you would have a lot of tearout. If it was me I would cut them and sand them.


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## Midlandbob (Sep 5, 2011)

I have also held the pattern by making the blanks an inch or two long on each end so they can be screwed or nail gunned to the template. The small holes are cut off to length at the end stage. It also keeps a bit of extra length to help with machining but does waste a bit.


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