Floodgate Column Leg — Fumed Oak Column Furniture Legs, Set of 4

A plain oak column. There is nowhere to hide on one of these.

A drum this size shows every fault — every ripple off the gouge, every soft edge, every wander in the line — which is why almost nobody turns them. The only ornament is a small lip at the top, a shallow groove near the foot and a low turned plinth band. Everything else is proportion: the sides swell outward by a few millimetres at mid height and ease back in, so the column reads as upright instead of pinched. You won't consciously see it. You'd see its absence immediately.

• Sizes: 30cm, 42cm or 50cm tall × 15cm diameter
• Finish: fumed English oak or natural oiled oak, both in hard wax oil
• Fixing: M10 threaded insert, or a four-bolt plate on request
• Sold as a set of four; pairs and singles on request

About the fuming

Fuming darkens oak right through, using the timber's own tannin — it isn't a stain sitting on the surface, and it keeps the arrises crisp where a stain would muddy them. Every board takes it slightly differently, so no two columns are quite the same colour.

Honest about the construction

Each column is built from three staves jointed on the axis and matched at glue-up. A solid 150mm billet of oak will not stay round — it will move, check and go oval as it dries. Laminating is the right way to build it, and we would rather say so.

Sample first

Designers and studios: a single sample column is available and credited against your order if you go ahead. Message us — we are used to working to a drawing.

Turned by hand in Birmingham, England. Lead time 3–4 weeks.