Thread: Bed build questions . . . and maybe a WIP!?

Not much action in the way of suggestions so I'll just continue with the WIP
Picked out the best pieces for the legs today - if I'd seen these earlier I would most likely have used them to join for the side rails
Dressed and sized them - ended up 38mm thick but at 100mm at their narrowest they should be strong enough.

Are you intending to use slats to support the mattress? If so you will need a baton attached to the inside of the rails to support the end of the slats anyway which will strengthen and stiffen the join in the rail. They look pretty well matched to me. I think you will not notice the join too much when it comes to the viewing the completed bed. I worried about these things (like darkening the colouring of the slats) when I built my bed but would not be so concerned about them if I did it again because, as you say, the bed clothes and mattress disguises them almost all the time. As for judgability.... who am I to judge? It wouldn't bother me. Finger jointing just means using timber that otherwise would not be able to be used for the job.

Nice timber! Is this Acacia salicina?

Hi
I would like to pull up a chair and watch this build
Cheers Rod

Originally Posted by pampelmuse

Are you intending to use slats to support the mattress? If so you will need a baton attached to the inside of the rails to support the end of the slats anyway which will strengthen and stiffen the join in the rail. They look pretty well matched to me. I think you will not notice the join too much when it comes to the viewing the completed bed. I worried about these things (like darkening the colouring of the slats) when I built my bed but would not be so concerned about them if I did it again because, as you say, the bed clothes and mattress disguises them almost all the time. As for judgability.... who am I to judge? It wouldn't bother me. Finger jointing just means using timber that otherwise would not be able to be used for the job.

Nice timber! Is this Acacia salicina?

Yes I am going with slats and you'll have to excuse my terminology - the '70x70mm rails' I mentioned would be the 'baton' attached to the inside of the side rails.

Originally Posted by nosnow

Hi
I would like to pull up a chair and watch this build
Cheers Rod

Don't get too comfortable! I've been known to get sidetracked badly

Be interesting to see how those joints hold up to the .... Sleeping.

OK Vern:

#1 Nice timber!
#2 Clever way to joint.
#3 Why batons so big? 70 X 40 should be enough.
#4 How do you intend to attach the rails to the legs?
#5 if you screw a couple of the slats to the batons either side it will prevent any
spreading of the rails.


Cheers,artme.

I missed this one so perhaps a bit late as you are well under way. My hunch is the joins will be ok but you can build in insurance. On my queen bed I have a 5th leg in the center. Not because the side rails need any help but a queen size will need a center rail to support the slats so a center leg allows a lighter center rail. A transverse rail on yours with 2 legs set back a bit from the side rails will be almost unseen.
Regards
John

Stuck! Not much progress tonight other than confusing myself further Picked out the slabs and cut them to length - or at least thought that would be the length I want. I was originally thinking about making the top of the side-rails the same height as the top of the slats until my little lady told me the mattress would slide off it too easily so I started marking everything out to have the rails 30mm above the slats. Now I'm thinking that the damned mattress weighs half a ton and there's no way she'll be able to get her fingers down there to lift it AND get the sheets under it I can't help thinking the mattresses weight and friction on the slats would probably keep it in one spot Anybody got any ideas about this??? If I have the rails level with the slats I can make the whole thing a little narrower to bring the rails in under the mattress slightly.

Pic1 - The three 25mm thick slabs I had to choose from.
Pic2 - The foot mock-up - ended up moving the slab down 25mm after the pic was taken - made a worthwhile difference!

If the joins are in the centre of the rails, why not have a 6 legged bed, like a billiard table? The leg would be half lapped over the joint.

Normally, when making a timber bed, the frame is 50mm bigger than the mattress in all directions. This allows for tucking and handling the mattress. To answer your question, the mattress wont slide off if the slats are level with the rail top edge. Standard bed bases dont have a lip.

Originally Posted by Evanism

Be interesting to see how those joints hold up to the .... Sleeping.

Very rare for anything other than sleeping on it these days

Originally Posted by artme

OK Vern:

#1 Nice timber!
#2 Clever way to joint.
#3 Why batons so big? 70 X 40 should be enough.
#4 How do you intend to attach the rails to the legs?
#5 if you screw a couple of the slats to the batons either side it will prevent any
spreading of the rails.


Cheers,artme.

#3 - the boards I have will dress to about 75x75 so I am keeping my options open until I decide how big they need to be to add to the strength of the Sally wattle rails.
#4 Bought some brackets that are slotted to hang over some angled bolts - not as wide as I would like so I'm going to add some unglued dominoes to keep it aligned better.
#5 The extra width available for the batons might do the job (I hope!)

Originally Posted by orraloon

I missed this one so perhaps a bit late as you are well under way. My hunch is the joins will be ok but you can build in insurance. On my queen bed I have a 5th leg in the center. Not because the side rails need any help but a queen size will need a center rail to support the slats so a center leg allows a lighter center rail. A transverse rail on yours with 2 legs set back a bit from the side rails will be almost unseen.
Regards
John

The 5th leg has been across my mind more than once! I bought some slotted brackets for the centre rail and an extra pair in case I come up with some other crazy idea like a transverse 'T' leg that slots in from the other direction - didn't explain that very well but I know what I mean

Originally Posted by rustynail

If the joins are in the centre of the rails, why not have a 6 legged bed, like a billiard table? The leg would be half lapped over the joint.

That idea has been considered along with John's 5th leg idea and hasn't been crossed off the list yet either! With a thin lap over the join on the outside it would make a great mask for the join

Originally Posted by rustynail

Normally, when making a timber bed, the frame is 50mm bigger than the mattress in all directions. This allows for tucking and handling the mattress. To answer your question, the mattress wont slide off if the slats are level with the rail top edge. Standard bed bases dont have a lip.

Thanks for that RN Decision made - moving the rails down level with the slats! . . . Sooooo glad I didn't start joining anything out there tonight (Where's the ;pheew: smiley when you need it!!!)

Originally Posted by TTIT

NEXT QUESTION?? Looking for suggestions for a way to hide/camouflage/disguise or generallly just distract from the joins??? I will just shape the sapwood to a flowing line and they aren't too far off matching and will probably be covered by a quilt or whatever most of the time but if I want to sell the thing or enter it in the next show, they will be fully visible (and judgeable!!!)

The old man always said "if you can't hide something make a feature out of it" so to hide the joins a diamond shape of same timber or other (or shape to suit your liking) could be inlaid over the join, only .5 to 1mm thick, I would allow up to about an inch of join to be seen top and btm (or whatever looks good) then repeat a couple of times inlay theme at other prominent points.



Pete

I think as artme said that 70 x 70mm baton would be overkill. I used a 40 x 40 on my queen bed and it is more than adequate. The rails I used were 20mm jarrah boards and the combined thickness of 60mm is plenty stiff enough. I built the whole thing to be easily taken apart and moved and have never tied the sides together with the slats. Mind you I have three evenly spaced rails in middle of the bed to support the thin slats so there is plenty of ridgidity provided by those timbers.

Also I am not sure that if you are not going to have a significant lip around the bottom of the mattress that you need any extra room to enable hand access (i.e. 50mm extra as suggested). The experience I had with my own bed (which I had to build without the mattress to test fit) was that I could have made the base a bit less long and wide than I did. I have (from memory) a 5-10mm lip from the top of the slats to the top of the rails and I could easily have made it so that the sides of the mattress were aligned with the sides of bed. This was partly because the mattress I bought was cushioned so that it has a slightly convex margin as the spring in the mattress pushes the edges and corners up a bit. Thus it would easily clear the lip around the bed margin when unloaded and probably when loaded as the weight is absorbed more to the centre. The clearance (sheet tucking room) I included in my design has meant you are able to see the ends of the slats when there is no sheet or bedspread hanging down, which admittedly is not often. Likewise at the foot, which in my design, the tops of which are slightly higher than the rails but are lower than the mattress due to its shape, could have been much closer to the mattress end which most likely would clear the tops of the legs (100 mm square posts) anyway. I have been meaning at some stage to take it apart and reduce the risk of bashing my toes on the foot and legs in the dark by shortening the rails by approx 100 mm but it is very low on my priority list of things to do so it may never happen.

I have found that the polyurethane finish I put on the slats is a bit slippery. The mattress creeps around a bit but not enough to bother me as it is easy to push back into position.

Just my experiences. For what they're worth.