Since all four legs are identical, a thin cardboard 2d model of one leg was made. This was placed onto the paper and traced around to firm up the final design - one good enough to enable me to calculate where the pivot and the four crosspieces of wood should go. The cardboard template was later used to transfer the correct shape to wood. The legs are cut from 32mm thick pine. My pine wasn't wide enough to accomodate the curve of the legs, so offcuts produced during the cut were glued on to make up the difference.
Many modern glues are stronger than wood itself, of course.
It took a couple of hours. Since Hugh Burnell's heraldry depicts a crowned black lion, vaguely lion-oid heads and feet were produced, with a bit of space for some goldwork. The furriest foot. Once the legs were made, the pivot holes were drilled through each one using a stand drill to ensure that they accurately lined up once assembled. With similar care, the eight sockets for the cross pieces were carefully chiselled out.