Woodworking

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Making strong "Z legs" for a table (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by Swaziboy@lemmy.world to c/woodworking@lemmy.ca

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Hey WW community. Exactly as the title says - I am making some work tables for my kids. They'll be used for homework, laptops, etc. And they're kids, so one can guarantee a little bit of abuse.

They're designing them, and the "z leg" is all the rage apparently - I am in the process of designing these in sketchup, and wanted to get some input/ideas on how to make these really strong. I obviously cannot make them out of a single piece of wood, so there will be some joins, probably on the apex points. Oh and the designs currently require the apex points of the Z to be rounded ....

I'm considering using half-lap bridle joints, making the Z's angular, then routing the curves into them.

Input, advice, links to designs welcome!

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[–] lemmingabouttoexplode@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

You just pound /glue a small wedge into the gap, since no one will notice discontinuities in end-grain. However, I can also imagine a bandsaw jig that clamps the bridle piece to an inclined plane till you get the angle you want. (Contrasting dowels will look nice! Dowel-makers are stupid easy to make.)