Just because I will and can; I got a heads up call that a customer wants to bring me a relatively small wood job to do. That is, to shorten about 8 legs on sofa and love seat. That is all I know now except they believe they are the screw on type (center screw I presume).
I thought I would run this by some of our experts, they have some ideas that usually interesting. Hammer and Steve, or anyone else deep in wood, hope you have your ears on.
At this point, the shape of existing legs are unknown, but maybe some ideas of how to shorten these legs could be brought forth? I have radial arm, shop smith, and the typical had tools, power and manual.
My thoughts at this point are to build a jig to hold existing leg and pull the radial arm saw blade through in a systematically process for all legs (to shorten).
Anyone done this before or have some references or ideas that, like I said, could make this more effective/efficient, as well as interesting?
Our guys deeper in wood, usually make a question like this interesting, so thanks ahead.
Doyle
The trick is to make them exactly the same length and parallel to the top plane of the leg. When I do this I just set my fence to the amount to cut off and set a dowel where it need to be front to back on the table to support the leg so the cut is parallel. The dowel can be taped or clamped in place. Don't move the dowel or fence and you all set. If you can eyeball the 90 degrees on the top of the leg a square will help.
Here's the way I shorten legs: My method ensures that you cut the same amount off each and that the cut is parallel to the floor. Since most legs are not square and parallel sides, I'd be leery of doing them with a power tool without a lot of jigs or fixtures.
Determine how much shorter you want them to be. Then you need to determine to take it off the top or off the bottom. I'm usually shortening barstools and such, so that's already determined (bottom).
I rip cut four pieces of plywood or scrap wood to the amount I want to remove. Then I brad nail them so that the legs will fit comfortably inside. So I don't need to worry about lengths, I just attach them like this: (xx is the leg)
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---+---+
| x |
| x |
+--------
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Remove the glides from the bottom of the leg, if any. If you are cutting off the top, remove the hanger bolts.
Set the piece on a level surface if cutting off the bottom. Or if cutting off the tops, remove and insert the leg into the jig and secure with a clamp.
Use a fine cut hand saw, like a Japanese pull saw to cut most of the way through if cutting off the bottom, all the way if cutting off the tops.
If you are cutting off the bottoms, cut each of the subsequent legs most of the way through. Then just finish cutting the last 20% or so by hand, the kerf will guide the saw the rest of the way.
Sand the cut edges and touch up with a furniture marker, if needed. Re-attach the glides or hanger bolts.
If they are the screw on/off type I would remove them first. Using a pencil and a block of wood the thickness of the unwanted section less the pencil width - I would draw a line around the bottom of the leg while holding the leg upright and straight on the table. I would cut just shy of the line with a back saw and a final touch up with a small belt sander.
Finally I would space + drill eight holes in a 2x4 and place each leg upside down in a drilled hole and use a straight edge on top to see if every leg touches the straight edge at the same time. The middle legs can/should be slightly shorter.
If the legs aren't removable you will make the cuts same way with the hand saw but have someone stand over you and watch for that 90 degree angle since it's hard to judge when your the one making the cut.
Good luck,
SA
I send them to my local woodworker and they do the work for me, so much easier and Then I can concentrate on the more important stuff like the fabric hahaha