The illustration below shows one of the common ways a leg—in this case, a cabriole leg—is joined to a piece of furniture, such as a simple carcase. Before attaching the leg to the rails, you will need to cut a rabbet along the top of the rails. After assembly, the top of the leg is trimmed to the level of the rabbet. Next, glue is applied to the rabbets, the notches and the contacting surfaces of the carcase, and the casework is seated on the leg-and-rail assembly. The weight of the piece eliminates the need for clamping.
There are many ways of joining legs to rails, including the four techniques shown opposite and featured in this chapter. The mortise-and-tenon and dowel joints are two alternatives designed to last the life of a piece of furniture. If you choose the mortise- and-tenon, remember that the tenons are always cut at the ends of the rails, while the mortises are always chiseled out of the legs.
Whether you buy hardware for attaching the legs or build your own in the shop, it offers the strength and durability of traditional joinery, with the added benefit of ease of disassembly—an option impossible with a glue joint.
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Although its origins can be traced back to woodworkers of classical times in China, Egypt, Greece and Rome, the cabriole leg has become a ubiquitous fixture of Western furniture in the past 200 years. The best known designs include the staid Queen Anne leg with its spoon-shaped foot and the ornate ball-and-claw foot of the American colonial design. Due to the leg’s widespread popularity, every generation has added its own touches or varied old ones, so that there is no standard pattern. Designs range from legs with exaggerated curves to others that are almost knee-less and virtually