I still don’t have a shop space up and running yet. Unpacking from the move seems to be some sort of perverse Aesop’s fable. No matter how many boxes I empty, the pile seems to grow by two-fold. I’ll be damned if I can work out the moral though. Add to that a particularly virulent summer cold and the shop space has been slow to materialize. On the bright side, unpacking is a fairly mindless chore and has allowed me to think and design in my head.
One design element that has been weighing heavily on me has to do with leg shaping. Up to this point all of my tansu shaped objects have sat directly on the floor, i.e. no legs. For several projects that I have brewing in my head, I want legs on them. So I needed to come up with a shaping element that fits with my overall design style and, more importantly, that I liked.
I don’t think that I’m the first to struggle with how to shape the end of a table/chest leg. In fact, I would venture to guess that it has been a universal struggle since the dawn of woodworking and has probably driven some over the edge, or worse, to Ikea. There are several styles already in existence to choose from. Tapers, flares, turnings and just about every iteration between. I wanted something to call my own however. Of course, at this stage, just about everything has probably been done and I’m just rediscovering something for myself.
At any rate, after mulling it over in my head for several days, I sat down with my sketchbook and put pencil to paper and roughed out my idea. Sh#t! Don’t tell my wife. I’m supposed to be unpacking.
Then refined it a little.
Then polished it a little more.
I managed to cobble enough of the shop together to manifest my idea into reality.
I like it! Not too flashy, but still elegant and should fit nicely with my typical design elements. Whatever those are?
Well back to unpacking boxes…I swear there are elves repacking the damn things every night while I sleep!
Greg Merritt
HILLBILLY DAIKU 
I really like this texture treatment, well done.
Thank you. There are several possibilities for changing it up. Only limit is your imagination.
I like it! I honestly can say I’ve never seen that done before. Nice.
Thanks. Like I said. I’m sure someone, somewhere has done it before. It’s almost impossible to come up with something unique after all of the years of woodworkers. 😉
Very organic, looks like the leg flares.
I think it gives a “rooted” look. Hopefully it will look as good on an actual piece of furniture.
It’s a really great idea, Greg. I think even the tapered flute without the texturing would look nice, depending on the overall look of the piece.
Thank you. It does look pretty good without the texture, but I’m a big fan of adding textural elements to my pieces. The addition of texture should impart a visual weight to whatever piece I add it to.