pad foot slipper foot

The most familiar foot of the To me, the slipper foot is the three, the pad foot has plenty most successful design for of variations. In the simplest the bottom of a cabriole leg, and most common version the especially when the arrises 3 rim of the foot is ⁄4 in. to 1 in. on the leg are retained and off the floor and its diameter gracefully end at the point is just under the size of the of the foot. There’s a blend leg blank. A competent 18th- of soft curves and defined century turner easily could edges that just works. This have produced it in less than particular foot design was 5 minutes, perhaps explaining taken from a Newport tea its prevalence. This is my table in the Pendleton House interpretation of a typical New collection at the Rhode Island England pad foot. School of Design Museum.

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W270BR.indd 48 7/3/18 10:24 AM A step-by-step guide to creating three distinct period feet for the cabriole leg

BY STEVE BROWN One Leg, three Feet

n the furniture making program at North bennet Street School, students usually find inspiration for Itheir projects in books from our extensive library. they’ll find many examples of period pieces, but slipper foot trifid foot they’ll also find more contemporary work. What they won’t find is any lack of possibilities. Sometimes limit- To me, the slipper foot is the The trifid foot is similar to the ing their options is the hard part. If a furniture maker most successful design for slipper foot in the way the back is inspired by the cabriole leg, for example, they still the bottom of a cabriole leg, line sweeps inward from the have to decide what kind of foot to put on it. there are a lot of options. especially when the arrises ankle to the floor. And like the to clarify a few of them, I will focus here on three on the leg are retained and other feet, the trifid’s plan-view common feet for the cabriole leg: a turned pad foot, gracefully end at the point pattern consists of an outer line a slipper foot, and a trifid foot. All three share some of the foot. There’s a blend indicating the edge at the top basic steps in layout and execution. For each I’ve pro- of soft curves and defined of the foot, and an inner line vided a side-profile pattern of the whole leg and a edges that just works. This indicating the footprint where plan-view pattern of the foot, which you can trace particular foot design was it meets the floor. This trifid onto the bottom of the blank. these two patterns, taken from a Newport tea design is based on an 18th- which embody the sophistication of 18th-century fur- table in the Pendleton House century Philadelphia Queen Anne niture design, are used to create three-dimensional collection at the Rhode Island side chair. It is one of the most sculptural feet in a way that is surprisingly simple. School of Design Museum. elegant trifid foot designs on an the turned pad foot is essentially a flattened oval- American piece. shaped block of that rests on a disk or pad. the pad foot is sometimes referred to as a Dutch foot or spoon foot. the slipper foot, which was popular in the Queen Anne period, is aesthetically spare and a very elegant solution to the cabriole leg. the three-toed paw or trifid foot has animal-like toes and is found on many traditional furniture pieces. I refer to its three divided or cleft elements as toes be- cause the other name for the trifid is a Drake’s foot, suggesting that it resembles a duck’s three toes.

Steve Brown is an instructor at North Bennet Street School in Boston.

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W270BR.indd 49 6/28/18 12:12 PM THE UBIQUITOUS TURNED PAD FOOT

his leg and foot can be sawn first and then back of the ankle, turn a fair curve with the skew Tturned, or vice versa. I think it’s easier to from the top end of the down to the turn first. To begin, trace the side pattern on the scribe line at the top of the foot. Once the back blank and mark the elevation of the pad and the of the ankle is formed, turn the foot with the top of the foot. Also make a chamfer mark at skew or with a small gouge or scraper. 5 Blank, 2 ⁄8 in. by 17 in. long the thinnest part of the ankle. The blank should Next out the leg on the and clean 3 1 ⁄4 in. be overlong, giving you a way out if the first up the sawn surfaces. Retrace the side pattern attempt at turning the pad foot doesn’t go well. on the turned surfaces, and draw chamfer lines The first thing to be turned is the pad under to guide the rough shaping. As you take the the foot. Using a parting , give it a cylindrical leg and foot from square to round you’ll remove 3 2 ⁄4 in. shape. Next, turn a cylinder for the foot itself. 80% to 90% of the wood by chamfering before

5 Then, using the long point of the skew, scribe a blending the facets into a smoothly curved 4 ⁄8 in. firm line to define the top of the foot. This cut surface. I use a 1-in. to remove the bulk must be deep enough to accept the edge of a of each chamfer and switch to a to fine- chisel when you pare the top of the foot later. tune them. Then I knock off the peaks between Use the parting tool to cut to the chamfer and shape the final curves with a rasp. mark, then continue this chamfer down to the Finally, I use a half-round and card scraper to foot. Now, to create the inward sweep of the refine the surface.

1. TURN FIRST

17 in.

Leg layout. After tracing the side Turn the pad first. With a parting Scribe with a skew. After turning pattern onto the blank, mark the tool and calipers, turn the pad to a the foot to a cylinder, use a skew ankle for a chamfer. Mark the leg’s cylinder the same diameter as the to make a deep scribe line at the

1 center by eye, then mark a little inner line on the bottom pattern. top of the foot. This will help as you 1 ⁄8 in. dia. less than halfway to the back edge. carve the top of the foot.

9 ⁄16 in.

5 2 ⁄8 in. 3 SIDE ⁄16 in. PATTERN Pad dia., 3 1 ⁄4 in. in. 5 ⁄8 2

Define the chamfer. Use a Turn the heel. The inward sweep The foot curves under. With the parting tool to cut to the depth of at the back of the ankle is created heel curve shaped, you now have

2 5 the chamfer mark, then carry that by turning a fair curve with a skew access to turn the underside of ⁄ 8 in. chamfer down the rest of the leg. chisel. It begins at the chamfer the foot to its curved profile. You BOTTOM mark and sweeps right down to the can make this cut with a skew, a PATTERN scribe line at the top of the foot. spindle gouge, or a scraper.

50 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: Anissa Kapsales; drawings: John Tetreault

W270BR.indd 50 7/2/18 11:33 AM 2. THEN SHAPE

Creating the cabriole. With the foot turned, reapply the side pattern lines and saw out the leg. Bandsaw one side, tape the cutoff back on, rotate the blank, and saw again. At the foot, cut close to the skew line but don’t hit it. Then fair the sawn surfaces with a rasp or spokeshave.

Freehand layout lines guide the shaping. To Chamfers take the leg from square to round. For the major leg chamfers, Brown often uses a lay out chamfers, Brown eyeballs the space in 1-in. chisel and a to remove the bulk of the wood. Then he switches to a rasp to fine-tune half, then draws his chamfer line a little more the surface. Scribe with a skew. After turning than halfway from the edge to the center. the foot to a cylinder, use a skew to make a deep scribe line at the top of the foot. This will help as you carve the top of the foot.

Chamfers shape the top of the foot. To finish shaping the foot, draw layout lines for chamfers from the foot up to the ankle. Use a chisel and rasp to cut the chamfers and then to create narrower chamfers. Work carefully near the skew line, and when there is very little wood above it, use a chisel to pare to the line. Once the shape is fair in all directions, file away the rasp marks.

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W270BR.indd 51 7/2/18 11:35 AM THE ELEGANT SLIPPER FOOT

haping the slipper foot begins once you’ve the down to the foot. It is so subtle that Ssawn out the rest of the leg. Start the foot it’s hard to make out when the leg has no finish by tracing the bottom pattern onto the bottom of on it. But once finished it softens the look of the the leg. This is a hybrid pattern, which includes leg, creating a blend of softness and crispness a half-pattern for the shape at the top of the between the leg face and the arrises. 5 Blank, 2 ⁄8 in. square by 17 in. long foot and a half-pattern for the footprint; flip it Before you begin the crowning, be sure that

3 and trace it twice to complete the layout. Then 1 ⁄4 in. the arrises are fair curves from the top of remove all the wood outside the outer foot line the foot up the ankle. I use a round-bottom with a chisel, first chopping, then paring to spokeshave to do the crowning. Because of create a plumb surface. Next, the sides of the grain direction, I work from the edge of the 3 2 ⁄4 in. the foot from the top edge you’ve just created to toe up to the ankle, creating a very slight bevel the inner line for the footprint. The last task in 5 on either side of a given surface. I continue by 4 ⁄8 in. forming the sides and back of the foot is to blend shaving narrower and taking less and less off the corner that the first steps have left at the off each time until the surface is an even curve. heel. Now the bevel will be continuous from the This is repeated on all four faces up to the tip of the toe right around the back of the heel. ankle. On the back surfaces, the crowning will With all else finished, you’ll crown the top blend into the curving bevel that runs around the surfaces of the foot up to the ankle. The table heel. The foot bevel itself does not get crowned. that this foot design was taken from had a very Now the foot can be cleaned up and sanded to subtle crowning on all four faces of the leg from 220 grit.

17 in.

11 ⁄16 in.

3 2 ⁄8 in. SIDE PATTERN Top of foot

in. 5 ⁄8 2 Trace the bottom pattern twice. The outside curve of the pattern represents the top of the foot; the curve of the cutout is for the footprint. Set the pattern on the bottom of the blank and trace both curves.

2 5 Then flip the pattern, leaving the toe at the same ⁄ 8 in. corner, and trace both curves again. Use a chisel and BOTTOM Footprint to knock off a lot of the waste outside the PATTERN layout lines.

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W270BR.indd 52 7/2/18 11:34 AM Pare to the outer line. Using a 1-in. chisel, pare to the Bevel to the footprint. With a chisel, bevel the surface you’ve just created. The bevel will outer pattern line on both sides of the foot, creating a connect the outline at the top of the foot with the outline of the footprint. Then use a rasp surface perpendicular to the bottom of the blank. In to blend the bevel fair to the back section of the foot. doing so, you transfer the outline to the top of the foot.

Shape the heel and back of the ankle. The previous steps leave a triangular chunk to be removed at the heel. Draw the layout lines so they meet where the ankle becomes vertical. Then use a chisel, rasp, and file to remove the waste and fair the heel into the bevels on either side.

Crowning Clean up on moment. The final top. Use a file step in forming to smooth the the foot involves crowning on the crowning the top top of the foot, but surfaces from the keep the arrises edges up to the sharp. The foot can ankle. A round- now be sanded to bottom spokeshave 220 grit. works well here. You can use a series of slight bevels to create the crown.

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W270BR.indd 53 7/2/18 11:34 AM TRIFID FOOT HAS PIZZAZZ

he first couple steps to shaping the trifid may want to carve part of the cove from top to Tfoot are similar to those on the slipper foot. bottom; for the transition area, a small round After sawing out the leg and tracing the bottom scraper is handy. pattern, start shaping to the outside line of the The three elements that form the sock foot, creating a surface perpendicular to the terminate at the top in shallow arcs, which can bottom of the blank. I rough out the shape with a be made with a #5 or #7 sweep, 20mm gouge. 5 Blank, 2 ⁄8 in. square by 17 in. long 1 saw and use a chisel and rasp to finish as much The arcs should be set in about ⁄16 in. Once 3 1 ⁄4 in. of the surface as I can. Where I can’t reach with those set-ins are created, the surface of the the rasp I use a #11–10mm veiner gouge. Once leg above the sock can be relieved down to the those curving surfaces are established, use the depth of the coves using a 1-in. chisel, a half- same to bevel down to the footprint line. A 3 round file, and a scraper. 2 ⁄4 in. rat-tail rasp works well for the inside curves. The last step in forming the foot is to shape Next, with a veiner, carve the tapering coves the tops of the toes up the ankle. The middle toe 1 5 ⁄4 in. from the toes up the ankle to the top of the will have a slight crown that blends to a quarter- sock. Start with penciled layout lines, drawn by round up at the ankle. All the toes can be shaped eye and flowing from the toes. Mark the top of with a chisel, rasp, file, and scraper. I have no 1 the sock 5- ⁄4 in. up from the bottom of the foot. qualms about using to improve the 1 The cove doesn’t need to be more than ⁄8 in. surfaces of the coves, though I wouldn’t use 3 to ⁄16 in. deep. To deal with changing grain you anything coarser than 220 grit.

17 in.

Top of sock

1 5 ⁄4 in.

1 in.

3 2 ⁄8 in. SIDE PATTERN Top of foot

in. 3 ⁄8 2 Begin at the bottom. Trace the bottom pattern on Saw it off. As much as possible, rough out the shapes the bottom of the blank. Like the pattern for the with a dovetail saw, being careful not to cut past the slipper foot, the trifid pattern generates perimeter outer lines. Diagonal cuts remove the front and side

2 3 lines for both the top of the foot and the footprint. And corners. Two angled cuts meet at the deepest part of ⁄ 8 in. BOTTOM it also must be traced on both sides, flipped, and then the cove between the toes. PATTERN Footprint traced again on both sides.

54 FINE WOODWORKING

W270BR.indd 54 7/2/18 11:34 AM Work to the lines. Using a paring chisel, work carefully to the outer line of the pattern, keeping the surface perpendicular to the bottom of the blank. This will establish the perimeter at the top of the foot. Then with chisel, gouge, and rasp, create a beveled surface from the top line down to the footprint line. For shaping the heel, a spokeshave works well.

Coves between the toes. To define the area between the toes, draw layout lines from the sides of the toes up the leg. Cut narrow channels to the inside of the lines and widen them into shallow coves that run up the ankle to the top of the sock.

Saw it off. As much as possible, rough out the shapes with a dovetail saw, being careful not to cut past the outer lines. Diagonal cuts remove the front and side Reverse engines. You may need to carve from the ankle A sock for the trifid foot. The sock is a feature typical on trifid feet. The tops of the corners. Two angled cuts meet at the deepest part of toward the foot when working at the top of the sock. Brown’s sock elements end in arched cuts made with a shallow gouge pushed in at 90°. Then the cove between the toes. tool of choice for carving the coves is a #11–10mm veiner the arches are defined, or set in, from above with a chisel. The surface of the leg is 1 3 gouge. The coves needn’t be more than ⁄8 in. or ⁄16 in. deep. then relieved to the depth of the coves, leaving the sock proud of the surface.

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