[eaglewso]

I searched around on this quite a bit but haven't found much. A plan I am about to start on calls for 4x4 posts but the wife and I decided to make it out of red oak (we want a nice long lasting bed, everything we've made so far has been pine). Finding red oak finished in that size is near impossible. Is it feasible to use 4 1x4s and glue them together or would that be too unstable to use as legs for a bed?

 

[Bill White 2]

You could do it, but the glue-up still wouldn't be 4 x 4 due to the size of the basic material.
I've seen columns made by mitering edges thus making a 4 sided mitered column, and you could even build this with a secondary wood as the center.
Bill

 

[Oakwerks]

Is there a reason it has to be exactly 4x4 ???
I've glued up red oak for furniture legs for years, with no issues....
Can't even see the joints.....

Sent to y'all offen' a iPad thing......

 

[ryan50hrl]

Agreed. Glue away, however you'll have a hard time getting exactly 4 inch with 1x4

 

[Steve Neul]

Actually most of the oak I've seen in the stores are surfaced to 13/16". If that is what you have you could laminate 5 pieces and get 4 1/16". By the time it was sanded you would be close to 4". Be sure to match the grain on the edges so it looks like a single piece.

 

[cabinetman]

You could do it, but the glue-up still wouldn't be 4 x 4 due to the size of the basic material.
I've seen columns made by mitering edges thus making a 4 sided mitered column, and you could even build this with a secondary wood as the center.
Bill

Material wise you would still have 4 sides of wood (4 pieces), and to make structurally sound, the fit to the center should be OTM to minimize stress to the mitered corners.

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