Sofa Table

Forming Disks	Chucked up	Almost finished
Prototype	Leg detail	Finished

Notes: This project was quite satisfying, albeit VERY labor intensive. The jig is comprised of a carriage to hold the blanks and a series of disks needed to create the various shapes. Two large disks are needed to form the cylinder, a smaller disk to form the taper and two octagon disks (an octagon was used to make 8 flutes, a hexagon could have been used to create six flutes, etc.) to form the flutes. Four router bits are needed, one round nose for the flutes, one flat bottomed bit to create the cylinder, one grooving bit to create transition from the square part of the leg to the round part and finally a pointed beading bit to create the beads around the leg.

Transition: Start by creating the transition from the square part of the leg using the grooving bit. Rotate the blank until the part is uniform and continuous around the blank. Raise the bit and repeat until the transition is about 1/4 inch deep.

Cylinder: Next, create the cylinder by using the flat bottomed bit. Move the blank left (starting from the right edge of the part) to right, rotating it and doing it again, and again and again. Now move the bit up a little and repeat until the cylinder is formed. Once the cylinder is formed, you can sand it smooth. It took very little effort to smooth it up.

Beads: Next replace the flat bottomed bit with the pointed beading bit and form the beads around the leg. Again, rotate the blank until the bead(s) is uniform. Raise the bit and repeat until the beads are fully formed.

Taper: Now remove the larger disk from the right end and replace it with a smaller disk. Also remove the pointed beading bit and replace it with the flat bottomed bit. The blank now leans to the right. Again, pass the blank left to right and turning it around to start the taper. The diameter of the blank on the left end should be the same at the diameter of the bottom of the bead. The diameter of the blank on the right (for mine) is 1 inch.

Flutes: Once you have created the taper, replace both disks with the hexagon disks, large on the left and small on the right. Replace the flat bottomed bit with the round nosed bit and and begin to route the flutes. Start on the left side and move to the right until the bit clears to blank. Now rotate it blank to the next flat on the hexagon and repeat. Do this for all eight flutes. Now raise the bit and repeat by moving it to the right again until it clears the blank. Do this until you have created the flutes as long as you want them, usually within two inches from the bottom of the leg.

If you managed to get this far, you have three more legs to go! What I did was make enough disks to chucked up all four at once. then I performed each process on all four before I went to the next step. This insured that all four were exactly the same, good, bad or indifferent. Gee, I wish I had room for a lathe!