Hairpin Legs - Tips, Tricks & Inspiration

"How much weight can your hairpin legs hold?" or "Which hairpin legs are right for...?"

These are the two most common question we get each day by far, so we thought we'd share a little more information about them with you.

The simplest, non scientific, real world answer is this:

• If one person can pick up and move your table or desk easily then 3/8” 2 rod legs will be great.
• If your table table or furniture is a “two person lift” then go with 1/2” diameter legs.

• If your table or furniture is a “two strong people lift” then go with 1/2” 3 rod legs.

We haven’t had any issue with welds breaking or legs bending under normal loads. 

Let's Talk Wobble for a Minute...

We aren’t structural engineers but we know this: the taller the legs get, the more opportunity for “wobble” in the table top.

• Use a 3 rod hairpin leg
• Use 1/2” diameter rod 
• Or both :-)

For example if you are building a foyer table with a slab on top. 30” - 36” 3/8” legs are common for this. A foyer table doesn’t see much action so 3/8” 2 rods will usually be great.

But if your were looking to build a kitchen island for bar stools to pull up to for eating or a stand up desk then adding a third rod and or going with 1/2” makes sense because it will get bumped, leaned on and used regularly.

Coffee tables, side tables, standard desks are usually fitted with 2 rod - 3/8” legs.

Hope that helps you select the right legs for your project. As always we are here to help, contact us for more info!

Happy Making!

Ever since we started producing hairpin legs in early 2015, we've been excited about bringing a line of metallic hairpin legs to market for our Makers. Then, once we got rolling and started growing it took a little bit of a backseat to raw steel hairpin legs and other powder coated colors. 

Yet, our great community of DIY'ers and Makers alike kept pushing us for metallic and especially gold metallic legs.

We got excited and towards the end of 2017 we went to work on finding just the right shade, finish and quality for a powder-coated finish... figuring that a 24k gold plated leg might be a bit pricey. :-)

The truth is that it's one of the tougher finishes to achieve through powder coating as it's a two step process with a chrome base layer and then just the right shade of gold applied with a clear-coat finish afterwards. When they are done just right, wow... they look amazing. The tough part about this is that the process takes a skilled hand/eye and a lot more time than a regular flat powder coated hairpin leg finish. Therefore, it costs double to get done right. 

But, when they do come out right... whoa! They look amazing.

So, here's the rub... we wanted to bring these prices down for you, before listing them, but we're not to the price we wanted to be at yet. We debated not listing the legs OR doing a pre-sale to hit a minimum order quantity for a lower price. Based on more requests for them from Makers and DIY'ers, we decided to go ahead and list the legs at a price that allows us to sell them, ship them and keep a high level of quality.

If you have a customer that wants some gold legs or need them for a DIY project, you can order the 2 Rod Gold Hairpin Legs starting today.

As we grow we are always trying to bring prices down to better serve customers. In the future, we'll also be looking to add a new line of design-oriented hairpin legs. Shoot us a note if you have any product finishes you'd like to see added like rose gold, chrome, copper, etc. 

We can't wait to see what you make with these beauties!

To your success,

Matt 

After making coffee tables, dining tables, desks and even lego tables with hairpin legs we've learned a thing or two about what to look for with hairpin legs. Here’s our “must have” list that we used when refining how to make the best Hairpin Legs we can for makers around the world. 

Here's to you - we can't wait to see what you make next! Feel free to tag us on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook.

Cheers!