Give chair legs flat feet

We recently purchased a set of chairs where the bottoms of the legs are cut perpendicular with the leg, causing one point of the leg to contact the floor instead of the entire end. I was told the legs are cut to industry standards. Is this possible?
–Rich Gardella, Lavallette, N.J.

We don't know of an "industry standard" for chair leg ends, Rich, but that doesn't matter when the chairs gouge holes in your floor. If there's a reason for the squared-off ends, it's probably because that's how the turnings came off a lathe at the furniture factory. It doesn't mean the legs need to stay that way, though.

Start by placing the chair on a flat surface such as a tablesaw top. Use a scrap of ¹⁄₄ " hardboard to raise the tip of a pencil, as shown above, and mark a line around the ends of the legs. Using a fine-tooth saw, carefully cut at the lines to bring the ends of the legs parallel with the flat surface.

If the leg lengths need to be fine-tuned, place four pieces of adhesive-backed, 120-grit sandpaper on the flat surface centered beneath the ends of all four legs. Then slide the chair leg ends back and forth across the sandpaper until all four rest firmly against the surface. To protect your floor, attach nylon (for rugs and carpet) or felt (for vinyl and hardwood) pads on the ends of the legs.