I'd like to make 3" thick table legs using 3/4" oak veneer core plywood. Will this design work?

Question

I'm designing a red oak table with 3" thick legs. I haven't found anywhere local where I can source 3" thick red oak boards, and the cost would probably be prohibitive anyway. So I thought I'd make them out of some leftover plywood that I'll have from the tabletop.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing:

The core could be two 1.5" strips of plywood glued together, two solid oak boards, or a cheap piece of 2x2.

I'm pretty new to woodworking, so I'm not sure if I'll run in to problems with this design. I know that getting the miters and the gluing perfect will be difficult, I'll have to do several test runs with scrap wood first (if 'difficult' is a understatement, let me know).

I found this site that describes an almost identical process, so it seems doable at least, though they're using solid wood in that article.

I own a table saw, miter saw, and router, but I don't have a jointer or planer.

Will these legs be durable if made this way? Does it matter if I use softwood for the core, or should I stick to oak core? Is there a better or easier way to make thick oak table legs without access to thick boards?

Answer 1

In my experience getting nice miter joints would be the most difficult way to get these. if done well, likely the 'prettiest' way to do it. I also think trying to get have it 'filled in' with the center core would raise the difficulty, since with a hollow center you'd have more wriggle room to try and align your miter cuts. In and out back and forth etc.

The 'easiest' way in my opinion would be to just laminate your 3/4" boards together, face to face until you reach desired thickness (4 for 3"). (and in the middle you can get away with lower quality faces since you won't see them). Clamping them good and tight many, wouldn't be able to tell the difference between glued up boards and a single 3x3.

In theory you could even glue up 2 or more legs at once with wider boards (6.5 or 9.5") etc. then cut them down. However the wider the surface you try to glue face to face the more 'pressure across the face you will need, ie not just around the edges. There is a name for the cross pieces (they are slightly convex) to push pressure across the whole face, just don't remember what that is right now.

But laminating the legs to desired thickness is perfectly reasonable and doesn't require much more material (after all the mitering) and is certainly much easier to get right and look nice. (IMO)

ETA if only veneer is available, can try doing butt joints (in circle) then you will only have 1 narrow face to use veneer strips on on each side of the leg. this might be a satisfactory alternative to the miter joints. certainly easier.

Answer 2

That is a lot of miters to match up. I did it the lazy way, I used 4 X 4 oak cribbing. It is used by trucks and RR to secure loads . I friend was able to get me a couple of new ones with no holes . I ran then through a planer ; getting use of a planer is the catch. I think it could be done on a joiner ( I have a 6" but never ran anything that big through it ).