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

Originally Posted by pampelmuse

.................... 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.................... Just my experiences. For what they're worth.

And much appreciated experience it is too! I actually took a strip about 12mm wide of the foot-legs tonight as I was starting to imagine how much pain I'm going to have after stubbing my toes every night with them sticking out so far - that 12mm might convert a few 'hits' in to 'near-misses'!

Originally Posted by pjt

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 have an idea for a little detail that might do the job - but there'll be more work in them than the bed though so I haven't made up my mind yet

Originally Posted by artme

Vern, if you are worried about the joint being in the middle of the rails and subject to extra stress and,
therefore, greater risk of failure why not glue and screw a reinforcing plate under the baton so that it sits astride the join? ............
A rail in the middle, as suggested by another contributor, is a darn good idea I did this on my Aus.Red Cedar
Queen size bed and have not regretted it

A worthwhile idea - it would allow me to keep the baton at a more suitable size! The middle rail is a given - already have the brackets I mentioned in an earlier post. Thinking seriously about 2 rails spaced evenly across it actually

Bit of a hold-up setting the head up Without a square edge on the slabs, I came up with a foolproof system to trim the ends parallel . . . and . . . well at least it worked for the foot slab Had to trim 2mm off the slab and the tie rail to square it all up but it won't affect anything much. Cut the dominoes in the tie rail because it was a fixed point now that I've determined the hieght to set it at and marked the slab at a height I was happy with.
Cut all the dominoe slots and now its crack-filling, shaping, sanding and rounding the edges time before I glue it all up. Pretty happy with the progress to this point.

Lookin' good there Vern!!!

You need to do something about those bloody big borers that have chewed holes in the posts!!!

Not exactly slow going as you mention butt I came along a little late from the start. Very good idea in the way you came up to resolve the squareness problem.

Shaping and sanding was coming along nicely - just finished 'refining' the voids in the 2 slabs tonight and realised I have made a huge cock-up in the design of this thing - very depressing In my eagerness to recreate the image floating around my dusty brain I forgot one of the basic rules of timber design - allow for expansion/contraction with humidity changes With the slabs up to 400mm wide, attaching them to the legs with dominoes isn't the brightest idea I've had

So how do I fix it??? . . . or do I just keep going and see what happens I reckon I can lose about 40mm off the length of the slabs to cover some other form of join but I'm damned if I can think of an easy way around this. Any suggestions appreciated and considered. I'm blank!

Sanding done and time for glue-up!. No responses to my last question so I devised a plan for what I could only call a 'stopped sliding dovetail'. Had it all worked out and was going to start making the jigs when I realised that the domino holes I've already cut in the slabs wouldn't leave enough meat where I need it most - so it's back to taking my chances with the dominoes. One day I will do the 'stopped sliding dovetail' though just to see if it can work
Also went and collected the Klinki Pine billets yesterday that I'll resaw this week for the slats and supports.

Pic 1 - All the Sally Wattle components shaped, sanded and ready to go.
Pic 2 - Foot glued up.

Hi Vern,
It might be too late but John Samuel has been asking a similliar question re timber movement in a wide join, (a day bed ) generally the solution was to have separate tenons as opposed to a wide single one with the central tenon glued but then the outer ones not glued and housed in a wider mortice that then allow for movement, you might be able to do something similliar with dominoes.


Pete

Originally Posted by TTIT

Shaping and sanding was coming along nicely - just finished 'refining' the voids in the 2 slabs tonight and realised I have made a huge cock-up in the design of this thing - very depressing In my eagerness to recreate the image floating around my dusty brain I forgot one of the basic rules of timber design - allow for expansion/contraction with humidity changes With the slabs up to 400mm wide, attaching them to the legs with dominoes isn't the brightest idea I've had

So how do I fix it??? . . . or do I just keep going and see what happens I reckon I can lose about 40mm off the length of the slabs to cover some other form of join but I'm damned if I can think of an easy way around this. Any suggestions appreciated and considered. I'm blank!

I house the side rails, head and foot boards half way into the posts and screw through from the inside and cap the sunken screw heads with removable timber caps to allow for disassembling if and when required.

Originally Posted by pjt

Hi Vern,
It might be too late but John Samuel has been asking a similliar question re timber movement in a wide join, (a day bed ) generally the solution was to have separate tenons as opposed to a wide single one with the central tenon glued but then the outer ones not glued and housed in a wider mortice that then allow for movement, you might be able to do something similliar with dominoes.
Pete

Originally Posted by rustynail

I house the side rails, head and foot boards half way into the posts and screw through from the inside and cap the sunken screw heads with removable timber caps to allow for disassembling if and when required.

Too late guys! - I went ahead and glued up already I had considered only gluing one or two dominoes on each end but I don't have enough faith in the strength of a loose joint against the forces applied by grandkids bouncing around on the bed I'm getting soft in my old age and can't bring myself to kick their asses like I did my own kids (and my old man to me and my mates!)
The more I think about the 'stopped sliding dovetail', the more I want to try it out. I'm sure it would have been done before but if I can come up with the right project to try it on I'm gonna give it a shot.

Pic 1. Finally found the missing ratchet strap tonight so I could glue up the head!
Pic 2. The Klinki billets to be resawn for the slats.

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.

Hi thats the first thing I thought of, not only are you hiding the joins but gaining extra support for the joint you have made.

blvvdy nice bit of wood - bed lookin good

Stuck again Started resawing the klinki pine for the supports (plural! - going with 2 spaced across it now . . . at the moment ) and the slats today. After cutting enough 100x25's to give me 100mm spacings between the slats I started to wonder if that would be close enough Hitting Google was the worst thing I could have done - so much conflicting info Found one article that claimed the spacings should be no more than 25mm for an inner-spring mattress but this seems a bit over the top to me - any advice or suggestions to help me decide????

slats are 2 1/2" and gaps 2 5/8"

not sure there's any logic in that except that when we had the bed made (wrought iron) there weren't enough slats (IMHO) and I got some more from the chap