Good morning guys, I'm making an old style hall tree and wonder should I orient my grain direction on these braces in a slanted  direction? 

Edited April 12, 20224 yr by Pat Meeuwissen
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If you have the material, I would set the alignment to diagonal. The is parallel to the leg length.

21 minutes ago, lew said:

If you have the material, I would set the alignment to diagonal. The is parallel to the leg length.

That would be optimal. Straight up and down could be prone to splitting at the shorter part where the brace joins the feet.

Go 50-50 and run it on a 45°.

Both vertical and horizontal grain directions have the same problem, same width at the small end.  However, if you fit the braces in grooves, then the width of the wood would be wider and more resistant to breaking.  But from a structural standpoint, diagonal will always be better.  The braces could also made of narrower individual boards if you get a decent grain joint.

 

1 hour ago, lew said:

 The is parallel to the leg length.

I think there's a word missing in this sentence buddy that will make all the difference. lol 

36 minutes ago, PeteM said:

Both vertical and horizontal grain directions have the same problem, same width at the small end.  However, if you fit the braces in grooves, then the width of the wood would be wider and more resistant to breaking.  But from a structural standpoint, diagonal will always be better.  The braces could also made of narrower individual boards if you get a decent grain joint.

 

Not sure I follow this line of thought are you saying to cut tenons on the ends and mortise that into the base? I like the look of the different thicknesses so I don't want to make that design change to make them wider.

On the last sentence are you saying to create like a plywood layer/lamination to get cross grain?

 

The grain should run parallel with the leg length

Edited April 12, 20224 yr by lew

I think Pete has it . I would do sliding dovetails and run the grain vertical. To out it together first mount to the feet and then slide the upright in.

1 hour ago, Pat Meeuwissen said:

Not sure I follow this line of thought are you saying to cut tenons on the ends and mortise that into the base? I like the look of the different thicknesses so I don't want to make that design change to make them wider.

On the last sentence are you saying to create like a plywood layer/lamination to get cross grain?

Tenon, stopped tenon, spline/groove; any construct to make the narrow end of the brace a bit wider will make it less likely to snap.  But the strongest orientation would be diagonal.  If you don't have a single board wide enough to create the diagonal braces, you could glue up two or more.  Way down there near the floor, at least with older people (!), can't see the detail that far away anyway, but if the braces are made from pieces with roughly the same grain direction and color, it wouldn't be noticed.

Another idea, similar to Pete's is to add gussets. The first rocking horse I made from this patterns had a problem with the rocker ends snapping off. A friend suggested the gussets added to each end. I sorta stylized the outline to mimic the rocker shape. 

 

Yee-haw Lew, LOVE that pony!!

I would probably use Baltic Birch on all the lower pieces since that would remove all the worry about it being strong enough!

expert from Ikea:  grain??? what is this grain you speak of?  our dust and glue boards are equally weak in all directions!!!

5 minutes ago, DAB said:

expert from Ikea:  grain??? what is this grain you speak of?  our dust and glue boards are equally weak in all directions!!!

My son's girlfriend actually works for Ikea. Lol 😆  but I know exactly what you meant. 

3 hours ago, Smallpatch said:

I would probably use Baltic Birch on all the lower pieces since that would remove all the worry about it being strong enough

That's what I've done on the children's coat trees that I've made. Made them out of 3/4  7 layer ply with edge banding applied to hide the ply layers.

Made a tenon that had the 2 outer layers of the ply removed to give a tenon 1/2 inch thick by 1 1/2 inch deep by 2 1/2 inches long.

Mortised into the body of the post. Needed the extra strength b/c the trees were made mobile by the recipients. Initially made them from solid wood but after several broke I wised up & used 7 layer ply. Didn't have BB available.

Guys, here's my hopeful solution to the short grain problem. I dadoed in a slot and epoxied in a section of plywood. I'll drill and glue in a thru dowel and cap it with a mushroom button plug.

 

Great solution, Pat!