Below are three leg possibilities- a compound curve, weighted high, weighted low. My artist friend had a strong preference, which differed from mine. That gave me pause.
At this point I am not concerned about the exact thickness of the legs in the flat drawing. The legs are visioned to have a rounded rectangular profile. The profile will alter the appearance of the size from a flat drawing. The next step will be to make profiled legs and hold them against the top and look for balance in size.
This is a project that will take way longer to design than to make. I am waiting for someone to tell me how much easier this design process would be with AutoCAD. I am using my high school drawing board, pencil and drawing curves.
[Quote]I am using my high school drawing board, pencil and drawing curves.[/Quote]
I programmed many different types of computers for 40+ years. I use a drawing board, ruler, compass, french curve, and a pencil when I'm designing (envisioning actually).
Another plus one for the top photo. I would try playing with this curve and altering the height of the bottom stretcher. I like it visually and structurally, since I'm guessing the top is pretty heavy. It seems to me that any inward curve toward the floor might lessen stability which would not be a good thing when trying to carve the Christmas goose, fruitcake or plum pudding.
Staves are a lot of fun to work with. The first time I cut one it was like being in 4H Woodworking all over again. Nothing is straight, the only thing that's parallel is the ends
The wood, especially in the wine barrels, is beautiful, 1/4 sawn white oak, Whiskey barrels not so much.
Of the three drawings, the first is most auspicious, but, if the drawing is a close approximation of the actual proportions of the parts, I'll suggest that the design needs some work in two main areas, function and aesthetics.
To me, function always comes first, before form, materials, cost or procedure. In this case, I think this base will be flimsy. Particularly if you want to have such slender legs. There simply isn't enough shoulder on those rail joints to add acceptable rigidity to the structure. It will wobble.
But, it's a continuum: stiffness increases proportionally with the shoulder heights on the rails. You will get the most bang for the buck by increasing the height of the top rails, because they are essentially out of sight. You could make them 3" high and it won't affect the aesthetic noticeably. If you want slender bottom rails, as you've shown them, you might adjust the curves so that they are taller where they meet the legs -- giving you a higher shoulder and then find a pleasing curve that narrows toward the center.
Aesthetically, the shape of the legs (and rails) is entirely your choice. As a rule of thumb, be conscious of making the curves continuous, with no bumps or flat spots. There are two main types of curves, regular and irregular. A regular curve is like an arc of a circle. Its radius is constant. An irregular curve is one whose radius is constantly changing, at some given rate of acceleration. Think of a French curve template.
When drawing recurved lines like the ones in your first drawing, it helps to start with a few select inflection points where you want the curves begin, end and connect. As you fill in more inflection points, an approximation of the finish curve comes into view. Then you can connect them with either a French curve (at the drawing board, or on small full-size project parts), or with a curved batten on a full-size furniture part, making sure that, on recurved parts, there is a single tangent for both curves, so they join seamlessly.
This is design chatter, and it is squishy, hard to articulate, which is why magazines generally won't touch it. I'm glad that you're asking, though. I think we should have more conversations about it.
A couple books that you might enjoy are The Power of Limits, by Gyorgy Doczi, and By Hand and Eye, by George Walker and Jim Tolpin. I'm sure other folks can suggest some further useful resources, too.
In an orthogonal chest of drawers there are but a few decisions to be made. I built one based only on a specified interior drawer size. Given that size the case dimensions to hold the drawer were dependent and all that remained was to choose molding and feet.
As you point out, once one enters the realm of curved stuff the choices become many. In the case at hand- leg cross section and shape, size of cross section over leg length, inflection point of leg arc, shape of arc, beginning and end of leg arc relative to a vertical line establishing the outside radius of the footprint, location and shape of cross bracing and its joinery, and probably some other choices I have not encountered yet. Those artistically inclined can sort through these shapes in their mind and reach an optimum, then and sketch and build. I have to slug it out with drawing instruments and trial legs. I'll know a good result when I see it.
