Ideas for kitchen table legs?

[UTRECHT]

My wife wants a very rustic looking kitchen table. Im using red oak and Ive already finished the top. Im trying to figure out what kind of legs to make. I dont have a lathe so they cant be round. Originally I was going to make a pedestal style table but my wife says thats too country. She just wants 4 plain legs, but I think that will look amatuerish. The only thing I can think of is to just use heavy legs (about 5" square) and slightly taper them. Any other ideas?

[Bigsister4u2000]

try using prefab staircase or porch posts.They are already tuned and usually only require light sanding and finish

[Phisherman]

5" square legs are huge, rather bulky. Tapering the legs will make the table appear lighter--without the taper it might look a piece of shop furniture. Generally, the inside of the legs are tapered. With 5" legs I'm not sure if your table saw can handle it.

[solarman]

How about some oak newel posts modified to suit your needs?

[Michael S. Dameron, Major, USA]

[Robert Bonomi]

5" square is _big_. "typical" tapered square legs are on the order of 1-3/4" sq at the top, and 3/4"-1" square at the bottom. Usually with some form of minimal 'ornamentation' in the few inches directly below the skirt.

A very clean, simple, and elegant look can be accomplished by taking a tapered cut off the inside _corner_ of a medium-large square leg. I dunno what to call the design, but I've used it on big (42"x96") solid-mahagony DR tables.

Using 3" sq. stock, I mark the base of the leg, at the middle of each of the two 'inside' sides; and on the 'inside corner' a few inches (1x to 1-1/2x the height of the skirt seems to 'look right') _below_ the bottom of the skirt. Play 'connect the dots', and cut off the triangular piece so defined.

These are readily cut on a table saw -- 45-degree blade angle, plus a simple taper-jig.

Shaving that insde corner of the leg makes a tremendous difference in the apparent 'massiveness' of the table.