Project Information
In my planning for a Shaker Table to be made at the Mason Dixon Woodworking workshop, I wanted to make one out of some maple burl that I had collected.
The log was at the sawmill in Feb 2007 I posted a blog on getting that wood in a blog here.
I wanted all 4 legs to be bookmatched on the outer face side. I had never seen it done so I sat down with some wood and attempted it, to see if it could be done.
I started out with a 5 X 7" piece from the center of the log Picture 2. I cut it into a 4 X 4" square and 30" long. I then ripped it on the bandsaw into 4 - 2 X 2" legs. Picture 3. I labeled all of the bookmatched faces with an A, B, C, D notification. When I opened up the cuts you can see the bookmatched faces min pictures 4 and 6.
So it now became the puzzle as to how to move the pieces around so that the outside faces would be the bookmatch and not the inside faces that you see in pictures 4 and 5..
So here is the scheme that I came up with and it works.
Rules
1) You must start out with one piece of wood that will allow you to cut all 4 legs at one time, not flat boards that you glue together.
2) you must label the boards to have the same letter on all matching faces A-D. This will allow you to put them back together in a case where they get all mixed up.
3) I also marked a bulls eye in the center four corners where they are all matched up. (My pictures don't show the bulls eye but the paper drawing does.)
4) Holding all four legs as they originally were in the board, take the first leg and flip it so the identification is on the opposite end and the portion of the bulls eye is the outside corner. Do the same for all four legs.
5) When you turn it around so you are looking at the identification again the four portions of the bulls eye should be the outside corners and all 4 face edges are book matched.
Paper Drawing
The results.
It works. Give it a try. I'll show the table in another post.
The table is here.
The log was at the sawmill in Feb 2007 I posted a blog on getting that wood in a blog here.
I wanted all 4 legs to be bookmatched on the outer face side. I had never seen it done so I sat down with some wood and attempted it, to see if it could be done.
I started out with a 5 X 7" piece from the center of the log Picture 2. I cut it into a 4 X 4" square and 30" long. I then ripped it on the bandsaw into 4 - 2 X 2" legs. Picture 3. I labeled all of the bookmatched faces with an A, B, C, D notification. When I opened up the cuts you can see the bookmatched faces min pictures 4 and 6.
So it now became the puzzle as to how to move the pieces around so that the outside faces would be the bookmatch and not the inside faces that you see in pictures 4 and 5..
So here is the scheme that I came up with and it works.
Rules
1) You must start out with one piece of wood that will allow you to cut all 4 legs at one time, not flat boards that you glue together.
2) you must label the boards to have the same letter on all matching faces A-D. This will allow you to put them back together in a case where they get all mixed up.
3) I also marked a bulls eye in the center four corners where they are all matched up. (My pictures don't show the bulls eye but the paper drawing does.)
4) Holding all four legs as they originally were in the board, take the first leg and flip it so the identification is on the opposite end and the portion of the bulls eye is the outside corner. Do the same for all four legs.
5) When you turn it around so you are looking at the identification again the four portions of the bulls eye should be the outside corners and all 4 face edges are book matched.
Paper Drawing
The results.
It works. Give it a try. I'll show the table in another post.
The table is here.