leg grain orientation....semantics?

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

Hiya, Working on my dresser project and just had a quick question. I couldn't find 12/4 cherry so I had to glue up 8/4 blanks into the legs and then mill to size. I figure I'll put the face grain facing forward on the front legs but was wondering if there's a "standard" for what to do in the back? I was thinking of having the face grain face outward or should I have it facing the same way as the fronts? I'm putting floating panels into the legs so only about 1/2" or so will actually be exposed for view. I'm pretty sure I'll just orient the face grain out on the rear legs but thought I'd ask to make sure I'm not making a huge faux paux. Cheers, cc

[Leuf]

Well I don't know what the "right" answer is, but I orient them so that whatever side of the piece you are looking at the legs have the same grain. So I would put the face grain forward so that the sides match.

-Leuf

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

I'm glad I asked. That makes more sense. Cheers, cc

[Joe]

This is a little late since you already glued the blanks up, but I would mitre four pieces so there was "face" grain on all four sides.

By the way, this was how mission furniture was usually made since it allows for ray-fleck figure on all four faces, something that Mom Nature couldn't pull off by herself.

Or, veneer two faces, also done to get the "right" figure on four faces.

Joe

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

Yeah I had originally pondered doing that but decided against it. I have never had good luck with gluing up long mitres like that. I seem to end up with gaps etc..... Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers, cc

[Leon]

It is common to cut a couple of veneers off of the nice face and glue them onto the sides of the legs to hide the side grain.

[JeffB]

One recommendation is to cut legs out rift grain boards - with the grain angle at 45 deg to the faces. This gives a symmetric grain pattern on all faces. It's also structurally sound if the legs have a curve - which may or may not be a consideration for your dresser project...

[Rick]

One mystery to me is why couldn't you find 12/4 cherry? Groff and Groff, Hearne Hardwoods (both in Pennsylvania) and I'm sure most hardwood lumberyards could have shipped a stick quite easily. I have cherry shipped in regularly. It's easy and usually no more expensive than trying to find good wood at the yards near me . . .

Rick

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

Try buying hardwoods in NM, locally that is. I wasn't about to ship in a couple chunks of 12/4 cherry. Our selection here is limited to say the least.