Cutting and Shaping a Cabriole Leg with a Pad Foot by Hand
To the uninitiated, shaping cabriole legs can appear to be an arduous task. The thought of doing it only with hand tools can make it even more intimidating (almost every magazine article I’ve ever seen uses a band saw to do the majority of the stock removal). The trick is to not psyche yourself out before you even start. Convincing yourself that you can do it is half the battle (trust me, you can do it). The other half of the battle is taking a seemingly complicated leg shape (it’s really not that complicated) and breaking the shaping of it down into small, manageable steps. It may take you some time, but this is supposed to be fun, so take your time and enjoy it.