Thread: Wood Newbie Seeks Advice

Well Homelife welcome to the forum.
With 9x2 rails that is going to be one hell of a strong bed and with it being 9x2 why not use 2 of the metal rail fasteners, that would give alot of support to the rails and stop any twistihg that could come about through weather changes.

Cheers Peter

Thanks for your reply Peter.
Maybe its my inexperience but those steel rail fasteners don't look actually that strong. Would a mortise and tenon join or something be a stronger fit? I saw a piccy on the web of a rail fastener and only a small part of the steel seems to hold everything in place- am I missing something?

Given sufficient time, all bed stop squeaking eventually, although it may take up to 60 years.

Originally Posted by HomeLife

Would a mortise and tenon join or something be a stronger fit? I saw a piccy on the web of a rail fastener and only a small part of the steel seems to hold everything in place- am I missing something?

Hi Homelife and welcome to the forum, i see you have met most of the clowns already, so no need for any smartasre comments from me just for a change.

Probably over 15 years ago i made a set of bunk beds for my sons, good strong timber like you are suggesting, with mortise and tennon joints. they are very strong and dont squeak at all to this day (yes my son has tested them in the customary manner, he is 18 now). the only problem with them is they are a bugger to move. the top bed comes off the bottom one, but thats as far as they disassemble.

hope this helps

quicker way? get married, that will stop it.

Originally Posted by doug the slug

i see you have met most of the clowns already

...says the man whose avatar is a pair of jiggling tits...

Originally Posted by damienhazo

...says the man whose avatar is a pair of jiggling tits...

Have to love brevity

Originally Posted by TommyC

although it may take up to 60 years.

OR,

You could get married. :eek:

Dan

Originally Posted by damienhazo

...says the man whose avatar is a pair of jiggling tits...

Is that what they are?

And all this time i thought they were a pair of ball bearings in a race. :eek: :confused:

doug
if you think they are ball bearings then im going back to working with steel
dont think wood will ever as much fun

Homelife,

I struggled with the problem you are outlining. Although not as easy to knock down compared to conventional (flimsy) steel joinery, here is what I did. I cut out some plate steel, 6mm thick, approx. 200mm x 100mm and drilled a series of holes, some to attach to the headboard and baseboard leg, and some to attach to the side rails (in my case 300mm x 40mm in size). I then installed some threaded inserts and some machine bolts and assembled the bed. While it is a bit clumsy to take apart, I can take it apart and put it back together again as many times as I like. And the joint is invisible from the outside and exceptionally strong.

I only wish I had painted the steel; it has a light coat of rust on it now (being here in Brisbane). If you didn't have the tools to cut up that kind of steel I'm sure your local steel yard could fix you up with some.

Regards, LuckyDuck.

Originally Posted by doug the slug

And all this time i thought they were a pair of ball bearings in a race.

:confused: I thought it was a dead-heat in a zeppelin race :confused:

HomeLife you could try Lou's tusk tennon design from his Redefining the Aussie WorkBench thread, at least then you can tighten the joint, and be able to dissamble if you move




Rgds

I am about to make a KS bed too. I bought the metal type fasteners as described by you, but have since read a book by a dude that has made hundreds in all styles. The only thing that he trusts now is the old-fashioned bed bolt. I used these on the kids bed, and combined the bolt with a shallow tenon in the posts. They squeak, but won't when I get around to putting a bit of wax in there. I will see if I can get the title for you - it was in a recent thread.

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/pa...842,41269&ap=1



If you don't want the hole visible - there's another way!