OH wise ones:

In the next few months or maybe a year or so, I am going to try to make an
oval occasional table, say 24-30 inches in height, with  serpentine legs.
By that I mean that the legs will arc in from the edges to a center point,
and then do reverse arc to the floor, maybe with a re-curve.  The idea is
rococo influenced, but contemporary.

The engineering is not clear to me.  If I cut the legs out of single pieces
of timber -- even using rift sawn wood as I always do for legs, the curves
are probably going to have stretches of short grain that will make them
weak.  That is probably so even if I use wide boards and cut on the bias.  I
don't have any natural knees of the sort favored by shipwrights.

Am I over thinking this?

Has anyone done this?  Does anyone know how it was classically done so that
the furniture will survive?  Should I joint pieces so as to avoid short
grain? If so, how, using what joint?  A butt joint would be at least as weak
as short grain.

Cheers!

Joe