Tapered legs question

[Woodmonkey]

Is there a typical angle to use for a tapered leg on a dining table? The legs are 75mm square, I thought I would taper down to 55mm, but was wondering if there was a "magic" angle which would look right.

 

[Ed Bray]

I've only done it a couple of times, so not an authority on this, but I tapered both inside faces only and started with a shallow taper then nudged the taper up slowly until I thought they looked good.

For me it was about making the legs look 'lighter'.

 

[marcros]

ditto.

I would mock up a side profile in mdf/ply and have a look. (or even a sample leg in softwood). I cant remember what i used on a table that I made- but your dimensions dont sound too wrong.

 

[Jacob]

There is no standard. If you look around you will find hundreds of variations. Choose the one you most like.

 

[AndyT]

Like others have said, the best way is to make a sample and look at it. But it will depend on the timber chosen as well - a lovely slender Sheraton leg would look good in mahogany but be too fragile in pine.

And excuse me if this is stating the obvious, but it's much easier to mark out and cut mortices before you make the tapers.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Thanks, went for 75mm down to 50mm in the end which looked right to me. And yes I remembered to cut the joints before cutting the taper, made that mistake before!