CON3130: FURNITURE MAKING 3

LEG & RAIL CONSTRUCTION

Leg & Rail Construction:

Leg and rail construction is used primarily on furniture such as chairs, tables, and
beds. Though the style, size, and joinery techniques differ, the structural strength
of these types of projects is similar. The structural elements include the legs
which give vertical support, and the rails which give horizontal support.

This bed frame shows the structural elements. You

will note that there are no extra elements other
than those necessary to support the bed. The legs
and rails support the bed off the floor, while there
are two shelves, one at the head and one at the
foot of the bed to support the mattresses in the
frame.

This table has wide rails fastened to the legs. Note

that the structure is stable without a top on it. To
make openings for drawers, the wide rail on one
side has been replaced with a frame.

These chairs use leg and rail construction as

the structural components. The two back legs
are extended to form the backrest.

Joinery Used In Leg and Rail Construction:

Since this construction is structural and critical to the performance of the
furniture, the pieces must be assembled in a manner that will withstand normal
wear and tear for that piece. There are many ways of making normally weak
joints stronger as well as many structurally strong joints that are used.
Butt Joint:
A butt joint is commonly used when joining legs to rails on tables. It is a simple
joint to use, but it is also very weak. In order to add strength to a butt joint,
biscuits or dowels are used.
Another method of attaching
legs is to use a metal or wood
brace on the inside corner of
the leg/rail joint. This is very
common and has the
advantages of allowing the leg
to be tightened if it should
loosen as well as allowing the
legs to be removed easily for moving or storage.

Mortise and Tennon:

This joint is very strong and used in better quality furniture. There are many
variations for this joint, all of which are very strong. The type of mortise and tenon
joint used depends on the aesthetics and tools available to machine the joint
components.

This haunched stub tennon corner joint

shows why a portion of the tennon has to
be removed. This allows clearance in the
mortise for the tennon on the other rail that
is attached to the leg.
 A wedged through mortise and
tennon is a joint that can be
tightened if it becomes loose by
simply tapping on the wedge to snug
it up. This as a very old joint that was
used on trestle tables to join the
frame. Another benefit of this joint is
that it can be taken apart easily to
store furniture or break it down for
moving and storage.

A wedged mortise and tennon is used where

a permanent, strong joint is required. The
contrasting coloured wood visible in the
through tennons are the wedges that help to
lock this joint together. The wedges are
made from a contrasting colour wood to
enhance the look of the joint.

Dovetail:
Used in high quality furniture for drawers, dovetail joints are also used to give
heirloom quality and excellent strength to leg and rail joints. There are a number
of ways of using this joint.
A through or running dovetail can be
used to lock components together. This
joint must be machined with great
precision in order to have the pieces fit
due to the angled shoulders of the tail
piece. The advantage to this is an
extremely strong joint that resists racking
(sideways leaning) as well as looking
good.
In the drawing on the right, note that the dovetail runs the length of the
rail and will be totally hidden once the top is secured on the table. This
will provide a very strong joint.
Half lap through dovetails provide a great deal of strength
to a leg and rail joint. The advantage of using this with
solid stock materials is that the wedge shape of the
dovetail locks the pieces together at right angles and
resists racking. The joint is also aesthetically pleasing.

A blind dovetail is used when the edge

grain is not to be seen from other sides.
This very strong joint gains strength from
the added surface that can be glued, and
the fact that this surface is in a different
plane than the other contact surfaces. Note
that a mitre is used on the two shoulders
below the mitre to hide end grain

Pedestal Furniture:
A pedestal piece of furniture has a pedestal and
feet as the main support components. Tables
are the most common product made using this
type of construction. Stools are also made using
a pedestal.

Pedestals can be
made by using a
solid piece or
gluing several
pieces together. In
the case of turned
pedestals for tables, the pedestals are actually made from
solid pieces that are glued together and then turned. This
means that the pedestal is hollow, making it cheaper to
make and lighter so that it isn’t overly heavy to move. Note
on the double pedestal table there is a stretcher between the pedestals to add
strength and stability to the two pedestals.
Also note that only 4 feet are required for a table this size since the stretcher
ties the pedestals together.
Pedestals can be designed to represent
almost any style of furniture from
traditional turned pedestals, to mission
style, to modern and art deco styling. On
the right is a photo of a spanish influenced
mission style that contains the elements of
a pedestal table in a specific style. The
clean staright geometric lines represent
the mission style of furniture.

Pedestal furniture gains stability from the

feet radiating out from the central
pedestal. In order for this type of furniture
to be stable, the distance from the toe of one foot to the end of the opposite foot
would have to be 2/3 to 3/4 as a minimum length. The closer the toe of the foot
gets to the exterior edge of the top of the furniture, the more stable it will be.
Also, the heavier the top is in this style, the more stable it will be. Feet are usually
fastened using double ended lag screws that have a lag screw thread on one end
and a machine screw on the other. The lag end is screwed into the foot while
holes drilled in the pedestal accept the machine screw end and nuts with
washers are used to fasten the foot to the pedestal. This, of course, is used in
hollow pedestals.

The top on pedestal furniture is

usually fastened with either
commercially available brackets or
more traditionally, wood cleats are
used. The wood cleats have a cross
lap machined in their middle. The
resulting “+” cleat is then screwed or
dowelled to the pedestal and then screwed to the table top. The brackets or
cross lapped cleats help to stabilize the top and allow it to be removed for moving
or staorage fairly easily.

Due to the structural requirements of the pedestal, generally these are made with
solid stock materials. The exception is that on lower quality furniture that is not
meant to be heirloom quality, these are often made from manufactured products
such a veneer core plywood. Though these are strong, they will not have the
resiliency (toughness) of a solid wood pedestal.

Attaching Tops to Frame/Pedestal Assemblies:

There are four main ways tops are attached to a frame/pedestal assembly.
These include metal brackets, pocket drilling, blocking, and wood dowel.
Metal Brackets:
There are many types of metal brackets available for
attaching tops. Pictured on the left are brackets that are
designed to fit in a saw cut on the frame rail and then
screwed into the table top. This eliminates on screw per
bracket, making the procedure for fastening the top
quicker. These are designed to squeeze the top to the
frame as the screw is tightened.

Standard angle brackets with predrilled holes can

be used for a quick method of attaching table tops.
When fastening these to the rails, they must be
attached so that they are slightly below the rail
edge. This allows the bracket to pull the top tight to
the frame.

Figure eight fasteners are a very clean method of

attaching tops to frames. These have a small diameter
recess cut into the frame and then attached using a
screw. The top is then attached with another screw. Once
the top is attached, half the fastener is hidden from view.

Pocket Drilling:

Pocket drilling is essentially drilling a pilot

hole at an angle as a way of attaching two
pieces. These can be done without using a
jig, but for consistency an speed, the majority
are made with a jig. A specialty drill bit is
used with a jig that guides the
drill bit in at a specific angle. The screw is
then inserted. Wood plugs are available to glue in the pocket, essentially hiding
the screw. The jigs and specialty drill bits are expensive, though the system is
quick and accurate.

Blocks:
Using wood blocking is the cheapest method of
attaching a top, but it does require a higher number of
fasteners to be used. The blocks have clearance holes
drilled in the blocks and then the blocks are fastened to
the frame rails. Care must be taken to make sure the blocks are slightly below
the frame rail edge so that the top can be pulled tight to the frame rail and not
have gaps.

Wood Dowel:
Wood dowels can be used to fasten
tops. The danger with using dowels is
that if they are placed at each leg
location and the table top expands, the
leg/rail joints will open up and the
frame/rail strength will be compromised.
If a pedestal is used, one or two large
diameter dowels can be inserted into
the pedestal and then into a cross lap
cleat system. The resulting assembly is then screwed to the top.

Surface Enhancement Techniques:

Reeding and fluting are two surface enhancement techniques that can be used to
enhance the appearance of surfaces such as pedestals and legs on furniture.

Reeding:

Adding reeds to a surface creates a three-

dimensional look improving aesthetics and
completing a certain design style. In the
photo on the left, the top of the table leg has
reeds glued to the surface of the leg. These
stand out from the surface, give visual
interest and create a three-dimensional look
as mentioned above. Queen Anne style
furniture employs a lot of reeding.

Fluting:
Fluting is used to give visual appeal and interest to furniture. It
adds depth to the piece as well as breaking up longer surfaces.
Fluting is a decorative cut machined into the surface of a piece.
Usually these are either hand carved or
routed into the piece. In the case of a piece
that has been turned on a lathe, the flutes are
added after the piece is turned. An accessory
on the lathe called a dividing head is used to
lock the piece in position on the lathe while it
is carved or routed. The dividing head locks
the lathe at specific points so that the fluting
can be machined at the exact angle required to space the
fluting evenly around the leg.
Transferring Patterns:
There are several ways that a pattern can be transferred onto a workpiece so
that it can be machined to shape.
A CNC machine can be used to scribe or plot
the pattern directly on the wood from a
computer design program such as AutoCad.
The CNC (computer numerical controlled)
router can also cut the shape including
profiles.

Pantographs allow a drawing to be scaled up or

down in specific proportions to attain the size
needed. A pantograph can either increase or
decrease the size of the original. A pantogragh can
be easily made from scrap pieces and plans readily
available on line.

Transfer paper was traditionally

used quite a bit for copying patterns.
Though it is still used, it is not as
common as it was. Carbon paper
has a coating of carbon or other
similar substance which can be
transferred to another surface
simply by drawing on top of the
original that is placed on top of the
transfer paper.