Thread: Red cedar for a double bed

Have made many beds from ARC with no probems. Even though the timber is soft and lightweight it is quite resistant to deflection. No need for special treatment. Try bending a piece, you will see what I mean.

As rustynail says, you won't have deflection problems provided you use adequate dimensions, and it is a strong wood for its density, so you don't have to go overboard. For a double bed, rails 45 x 200mm deep would be quite adequate, and look about right proportionally, I reckon. In any case, since rails are generally out of sight, you could use a more dense (& cheaper!) wood for these parts. Of course, if your design calls for visible side rails, then that isn't such an easy option.

I used different woods for posts & rails on this Queen-size bed . I wanted to use some very nicely-figured Cedar I had, for the head board, but was worried that the bed-bolt method of joining rails to posts that I intended to use might cause crushing of the soft cedar & lead to constant loosening, if I used Cedar for the posts, so I substituted Mahogany for these. There was a bit of colour difference, which was muted by polishing, but I expect them to mellow to a very similar shade in time. In fact, it's already pretty hard to tell they are different woods barely 6 months after finishing it. For rails, I used Rose Alder, which is a nice wood of itself, but it takes stain well & I was able to match them quite closely. Not that it matters all that much, since the rails are really only seen when the bed is being made...

Cheers,

here's another one
queen sized
cedar frame and headboard, Tassie Oak slats spanning the full width

Interesting, Ian - that's almost exactly what LOML originally wanted, but then she saw the bed with a flat headboard that she really liked, as recounted in my thread. So I ended up with a totally different product.

I presume the boards are coopered? And how have you joined the side rails?

Cheers,

i like both of them ian's
thats good, i was leaning towards 200x50.
id still like to build it all out of cedar, and wasnt going to use the bed bolts method, as iv seen a bracket type system. screw one half on the leg, and other on the rail end. and they slot together.
you think it would have a similar problem with the cedar being soft? the screws pulling out of the soft timber?

Originally Posted by Lenz

i like both of them ian's
thats good, i was leaning towards 200x50.
id still like to build it all out of cedar, and wasnt going to use the bed bolts method, as iv seen a bracket type system. screw one half on the leg, and other on the rail end. and they slot together.
you think it would have a similar problem with the cedar being soft? the screws pulling out of the soft timber?

Lenz, I can't answer your question, I'm afraid. I've seen a couple of different systems for these metal bed-rail fasteners. The part that screws onto the bed post should be fine, as the screws are going into side grain. But one system, at least relies on screws into the end grain of the rails to hold the mating fastener. This would be the weakest link, IMO, because screws into end grain are notoriously unreliable, particularly in softer woods. However, they must work ok on some woods (they've been selling them for a long time), so maybe someone who has used these types of clips can give you a recomendation......

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Interesting, Ian - that's almost exactly what LOML originally wanted, but then she saw the bed with a flat headboard that she really liked, as recounted in my thread. So I ended up with a totally different product.

I presume the boards are coopered? And how have you joined the side rails?

Cheers,

yes the boards are coopered and captured in slots in the legs and top and bottom rails.

the rails are attached using bolts and nuts captured in the tenons on the bottom rail of the head board
you can see the slots wheer the chief assembler is standing

my son's bed is Jarrah, but has the same detail

I've also attached the detail from Jeff Miller's Bed Book (Taunton Press) a truely excellent resource

Hi Lenz
the side rails on my cedar bed are about 135 x 30
the slats sit on 25 x 35 Tassie Oak cleats

Only a suggestion.
Have made a couple of Q/S beds in the past and on the inside bottom of the rail, run a length of 50 x 50 x 6mm angle iron.
Strenghtens up the side rail and gives you something to bolt the cross slats to.
Some people don't like the idea of steel in their construction/creations but it is out of sight.
Like i said,only a suggestion.

Nice joint there Ian.

I use mortise and tenon for the joint. It's held together by 2 cabinet connectors.