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If You Have a Jointer,
Throw Your Tapering Jig Away
For years I used a tapering jig on my table saw to cut tapers on legs. Even after cutting hundreds of the things, I never liked using the jig. It felt unsafe and always brought my fingers too close to the blade for comfort. One day this method came to me out of the blue. It works so well and so fast that I'm still kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner. It uses your jointer and can cut just about any taper in only two quick passes.
Let me show you how to do this on a 2-1/8" x 2-1/8" x 28-1/4" leg. First mark on the leg where the apron will be. Let's say the apron is 4" wide. Add 1" to that and make a mark 5" down from the top of the leg. Then take the remainder of the leg, 23-1/4", divide that number in half and forget about the fraction -- so you get 11". Make a mark on the leg that's 11" up from the bottom of the leg. To reduce the width of the leg at the floor by half (which is standard with leg tapering), set your jointer to make a 1/2"-deep cut. Now make your first pass on the jointer by slowly pushing the leg into the cutterhead -- foot first -- until you reach the mark at 11". Lift the leg off the jointer.
Now turn the leg around so the top part is headed towards the cutterhead. Place your pusher-holddown block on the bottom of the leg and push down so you "pop a wheelie" with your leg. Slowly push the leg into the cutterhead while pushing down and forward on your pusher-holddown block. When you finish this pass you will have a perfectly tapered leg on one side. PW
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