Popular Woodworking 2003-12 № 138, страница 49

Line is parallel to grain

A template helps you visualize the correct growth-ring orientation for the legs.Turn the template until the growth rings run from corner to corner. Mark that on the end grain.

You want the grain in your legs as straight as possible. Mark a line on your lumber that is parallel to the grain and close to the edge. Band saw to that line.

Set your table saw's blade to match the angle marked on your wood. Rip this edge off the leg.

Now square up the leg blank on your jointer and table saw.

The key to understanding this puzzle is in the end grain of your legs. If you look at the photos of the flatsawn leg, the growth rings run left-to-right through the leg. On two sides of the leg, the tree's growth rings are parallel to the face - known as flatsawn or tangential grain. On the other two sides of that leg, the growth rings intersect the face of the leg at a 90° angle - known as quarter-sawn or radial grain.

Flatsawn grain and quarter-sawn grain look quite different in many species, especially in those where the earlywood and latewood are distinct. These legs look odd because we expect the four surfaces to appear the same. After all, the surfaces are about the same size and are from the same piece of wood. But they don't look the same, so it's distracting, even glaring. It looks even worse with a finish on it.

Think Bastard Grain

The trick to getting around this problem is either to select your lumber carefully before cutting or to cut it in a special way.

In essence, you want the growth rings to travel at a 45° angle from corner to corner (or an angle that's close to that). If you study the photos you'll see why this works. No matter which face of the leg you look at, the growth rings intersect that face at a 45° angle, so the leg looks and reflects light the same no matter where you are standing in the room - pretty clever.

If you select the boards for your project's legs carefully before construction, you can purchase wood with the growth rings at about a 45° angle to the faces of your board. Sometimes called "bastard grain," you'll usually find this growth-ring pattern near the long edges of wide boards.

If you can't find this growth pattern in the wood at the lumberyard, you can purchase stock that is thicker than what you need and saw it on your table saw and band saw to create bastard grain. It's easier than you think.

Finding Your Legs

The first step is to trim your board so the face grain is as straight as possible - angled grain looks odd on a leg. Look at the face of your board and use a yardstick to mark a straight line that is parallel to the grain lines and near an edge of your board. Band saw to that line, clean up the cut on the jointer and rip the board as wide as possible. Your grain is now straight.

To help visualize the growth-ring pattern on the end grain, make a cardboard template that has a hole cut in it that matches the thickness and width of your legs, plus V8" on all four sides.

The legs for the table at left are 1¹/8" square, so my template had a 1³/8"-square cutout. Place the template on the end grain and rotate it until the growth rings run from corner to corner. With a magic marker, mark this shape on the end.

Use a sliding T-bevel to measure this angle and then set your table saw's blade to the same angle, as shown above. Rip the board right up to the line you marked on the end grain. Now square up the stock to this line using your jointer and table saw. Finally, use your planer to reduce the leg to its finished thickness.

There is one slight disadvantage to legs with bastard grain: If they have much more drying to do, the legs will distort into somewhat of a diamond shape (if you were looking at them on end) as they dry. This can open your joints, so use dry wood. PW

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