How to Make Cabriole Legs

If you think cabriole legs are out of reach, think again. With a few hand tools and a little hand/eye coordination, you too can make these beautiful traditional treasures for your furniture projects.

In this story I make Queen Anne style cabriole legs out of walnut. The legs were part of a recent jewelry chest commission.

This is not a beginner project and assumes some basic joinery and hand tool knowledge.

Practice makes perfect. Before I tackled the real thing I practiced on glued up 2 x 4 stock. I suggest you do the same. 2 x 4s are cheap and easy to work with.

The best leg stock is rift sawn solid stock. A rift-sawn blank yields relatively straight grain on all four faces of the leg. Always use solid stock for your cabriole leg unless you plan to paint the leg. Otherwise unsightly grain shifts and glue lines will ruin the leg’s appearance.

The first step is to determine the overall leg dimensions. Cabriole legs come in all sizes: from short and squat to tall and thin. Most often, you’ll start with 10/4” -16/4” stock.

Rough cut the stock to length. Leave the blanks 1/4” over size in thickness and about 4” longer than the finished leg. You’ll cut off two transition knee blocks from the extra length at the top. The blocks transition the leg to the apron.

Thick stock can have a lot of internal tension from drying. It’s best to let the rough cut leg blanks rest for a few days before final shaping. Be sure the air can get at all four faces of the blank. I just stand them up in a corner of the shop.

Joint and plane the rested blanks to final thickness For the jewelry chest in this story, I used a 2-3/4” x 2-3/4” x 24” leg blank cut from 12/4” stock.

Once you determine the finished leg size you can make your template. The three-dimensional cyma or S-curves of a cabriole leg can seem a bit daunting at first glance. Fortunately, a 2-dimensional template makes it easy to cut the 3-dimensional profiles on the bandsaw. All that’s left after the bandsaw is some handwork to fine-tune the leg shape. The trick is in laying out a pleasing 2-dimensional design on the template in the first place. Take some time here to get it right. When you think you’ve got it, let the drawing sit for a day or two and reexamine to see if it still pleases the eye.

Rip the template stock from 1/4” MDF or plywood. The template should be the same width as the leg (2-3/4” for this project) and about 4” longer than the finished leg length (28”).

The template layout combines exact measurements and freehand drawing.

Start with a square to mark off some basic elements of the leg.

Measure up 24” from the bottom and square a line for the top of the leg. The first element down from the top is the block. The block height needs to be tall enough to accommodate the apron it’s joined to and wide enough to remain strong after the mortises are cut into it.  Our leg will join to a 4” apron. Measure down 4” from the top of the leg and square a line for the block height. Measure in from the back edge 1-3/4” and square a line for the block thickness. A thickness of 1-3/4” will leave plenty of stock for the mortises.

On the other end of the template lay out the pad diameter and thickness. Generally the pad will be 3/16” to 3/8” inch thick and the diameter should be about half the width of the blank, in our case 1- 3/8” diameter. If you know the piece will rest on carpet go with the 3/8” pad; on a hardwood floor, 1/4” inch is plenty. Square lines for the pad.

The next element up the leg is the toe. Square a line for the toe height, generally 3/4” to 1” up from the bottom. The toe on this leg is 1” up from the bottom. Square a line for the toe.

Square the ankle line at 3 times the toe height, in our case 3” up from the bottom. Draw another line across about 1” above this line. This represents the narrowest part of the ankle.

Now we move back up the leg to the knee. Square another line across the template that is three times the height of the toe, or 3”, below the bottom of the block. This is where the front of the knee will be. Draw a 45° line from the bottom of the block to the outside edge of the template. This is the approximate angle of the top of the knee where it meets the block. You don’t want this to be too flat or it will look heavy and also catch dust. (Yes, housekeeping matters in leg design.)

Make an “X” over the unused part of the template to help you ignore it. The extra length helps position the template and it’s where I drill a hole to hang it on my wall. If you keep making cabriole legs, you’ll end up with a substantial template collection hanging from your shop wall.

Now it’s time to freehand draw the curves. This is where the rubber meets the road. Take your time. Shoot for nice graceful arcs and don’t be afraid to erase and redo. I find it helpful to make the lines very fat using the edge of the pencil lead. Then I erase what I don’t want. Not unlike rasping.

The back and front lines of the leg have slight curves. A common mistake is to make these lines straight. Check your curve with a straightedge. There should be a slight curve to the front and back edges of the leg.

The narrow ankle portion should be approximately 2/5 of the overall width of the leg template: in this case about 1-1/8”.

Don’t worry if your lines aren’t perfect. It’s the overall shape you’re after. There will be an opportunity to smooth and shape the template after it is cut.

When you’re happy with your sketched leg, cut out the template using the bandsaw. Be sure to leave the line for final sanding and shaping.

Sand the sawn edges of the template smooth. Here’s where you can fine-tune the curves. Don’t worry too much about getting perfect edges. A little bump or two won’t matter. Remember, this is only a layout template.

Mark the front corner of each blank so the grain orientation is the same for each leg. Note the diagonal flow of the end grain. This is the rift sawn grain pattern you’re looking for in a leg blank.

Lay out the leg by tracing the template onto the leg blank. Draw two outlines back-to-back on adjoining faces of each leg blank.

Add a couple bridges on one face for support on the bandsaw. This is the first face of the leg. On dark wood, such as walnut, a white china marker leaves a more visible line.  See Sources.

Cut the first face leg profile on the bandsaw. Be sure to leave the bridges intact.

A 1/4” or 3/8” blade works best for navigating the curves.

When you cut the back of the leg on the first face you also cut away many of the layout lines on the adjoining face. You will need those lines to cut the second face. Reposition the cutoffs back onto the leg blank with hot melt glue and reconnect the lines. Tape also works to hold the cutoffs on the blank.

Turn the blank 90-degrees and make the second set of cuts. Note how the bridges support the stock when cutting the second face. Cut carefully. The goal is to remove as much material as cleanly as possible. It’ll save on hand work later.

Cut off the bridges after both face profiles have been cut.

Here are the legs fresh off the bandsaw. Reminds me of a gaggle of geese.  You can see that the curves and overall shape are there, they just need some refinement. This is where the fun really begins. From here on out, it’s all handwork to refine and smooth the leg. Let’s get started.

Mark the first set of modeling guidelines for final shaping. Start with your pencil in the middle of the ankle. Hold the pencil at a distance equal to half the thickness of the ankle. Use your middle finger as a depth gauge and run a line that parallels the profiles on all four faces. No need for precise measurements. Eyeballing it works fine. Remember, these are just guidelines.

Mark a second set of modeling guidelines in the same manner as the first. Set your pencil to about 1/4 the ankle thickness and mark the profiles on all four faces.

Turn the leg upside down and compass a 1-3/8” circle on the bottom of the rough-cut footpad.

< Start the shaping at the footpad. First, undercut the four corners with a hand saw. Cut just shy of the pad circle.

Pare back the pad with a chisel. Smooth the pad edge with a rasp and sandpaper after paring.

A machinist vise retrofitted with wood jaws is a great way to hold the leg firmly in position without damaging the stock.

<Chamfer the four corners with a spoke shave and a rasp. Shave all four corners down to the outside modeling lines. You’ll need a rasp for the tighter areas where the spoke shave can’t reach. The result is a rough octagonal shaped cross-section to your leg.

For ease of handling, clamp the leg end-to-end in a pipe or bar clamp. Then clamp the pipe clamp in a vise. This will hold the leg steady for shaping and allows you to easily reposition the blank as you go.

Take your time and check your progress frequently as you go. You’ll see the leg gradually take shape.

Use a spoke shave and rasp to finish rounding the leg profile. A concave spoke shave can be a big help here, but is not essential. Round the chamfered edges down to the first set of modeling lines on the leg. The leg should be almost round at the ankle and more rectangular in the thicker portions of the leg.

Use a rasp to finish shaping and smoothing the leg. A high quality cabinetmaker’s rasp is shaped to smooth both broad flat areas and tight inside curves. It’s a must have tool for making a cabriole leg and makes all the difference in the world.

It’s a good idea to periodically take the leg out of the clamp and stand it up on your bench. Look it over carefully to see if there are areas that need a little more shaping.

Sand smooth once the final shape is achieved.

Here are the completed legs attached to the table aprons. Note the addition of knee blocks that transition the leg to the apron. The knee blocks are made from the extra stock cut from the top of the leg blank.

Cut the knee block stock in half to yield two transition blocks per leg. Using the top of the leg blank for the knee block insures a good grain and color match. After the legs and aprons are joined, hold the square block in place under the apron and adjoining the knee block on the leg.

Trace the outline where the block joins the leg and free hand the ogee shape along the bottom edge. Cut the rough outline on the bandsaw. Glue the knee block in place. Use a rasp and sandpaper to smooth the blocks into the legs and aprons.

Your legs are done! You can use this technique to craft legs of any size and proportion.

Remember to practice on scrap. I always check a new template design by modeling a practice leg. There’s nothing like a full-scale 3-dimensional model to help judge leg proportions and shape.