Thread: King Size Bed

Thanks for the advice Glenn with the cracking. I will give it a go this weekend...there are some pretty long cracks in the larger posts which I'd like to see disappear!

You are more than welcome to copy my design! The CAD design I knocked up is a touch different to what I have done... I can give you some more accurate dimensions etc if you'd like.

All told the timber set me back just under $1100 and what I ordered is below. Below sizes are dressed sizes. I found that the price and availability of sizes (like 140 square) for this sort of wood varied greatly between retailers. For example the first set of posts I purchased were charged at $145 l/m and after a bit of shopping around the other joint was only $85 l/m!

2 x 1500mm x 140mm x 140mm
2 x 1100mm x 140mm x 140mm
3 x 2100mm x 190mm x 45mm
9 x 1800mm x 190mm x 45mm
3 x 1800mm x 140mm x 19mm

+ 10m or so of merbau decking from Bunnings.

I started on the caps for the posts tonight... Should have the done by the weekend hopefully.

Thanks Lukiespookie,

Post as much info as you can, the more the better.

Have you decided what you are going inlay the panels with yet?

Regards.....Glenn

Quickly punched out the routing of the edges for the caps. They will need a sand and still need to have a 140x140 recess routed out so the legs slip in nicely.

Ah yes.. the inlays. Well I'm not sure whether I am going to do it now... I don't think I am quite skilled enough to do what I want. I was originally gonna inlay some lettering at the foot but I fear that I may screw it up. Also I really don't know what kind of colour would suit the colour of the wood. Maybe once the bed is together I will re-evaluate.

How will your missus move it to dust under the bed?

The head is almost done... just need to sand it some more, attach the caps and oil it. The finish line is in sight!

Hello Lukiespookie,

What can we say............BEAUTIFUL!

You have done a fantastic job Lukiespookie, the finished head looks superb.
Just as a thought, maybe you could put some marquetry or something similar inside each of the head panel sections, like the Japanese do???? Just a suggestion.
Regardless, it still looks wonderful, great work.

Lukiespookie, you designed for a king size bed, how does the size of the mattress match the woodwork? (ie; Flush, Overhang, Undersize...etc)

What CAD program did you use for the design, was it Sketch-up?

Please keep us updated, as I have really been enjoying this thread.

Thanks...........Glenn

The moment of truth comes tonight when my brother comes around to help me move the head into the backroom where the mattress and foot are. Regarding the sizing of the bed, I have designed it to the Australian Standard size for king mattresses, being 203cmx183cm.

I am thinking if I did do some marquetry, it would be in the centre piece at the foot and would be my partner and I’s initials. I will keep you posted... and may even do that as an after thought.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a sealer for the bed? I am not too keen to leave it unsealed as the oil will rub off etc onto the bed clothes, and the wood itself is has quite alot of tannin. I am thinking of a matt clear coat.

Width wise, the mattress will be such that the 45mm thick side boards are positioned exactly in the middle of the posts on each side. The foot posts were machined by a different vendor and sadly are slightly undersized by about 1.5mm, so we’ll see what happens there. You will notice that most mattresses have a radius at each corner and the chamfers on the posts will allow the mattress to sit almost flush with the foot and the head. Accounting for this, I have made the foot and head slightly offset in relation to the vertical centreline of the posts favouring the direction where the mattress is.

The CAD package I used was Solid Edge which I had a copy of from Uni. Although not the best package around, it’s what we were taught in and is very easy to produce drawings and simple models (easier than Pro-E etc). Funnily enough I used Google SketchUp today for the first time and thought it was horrible... I guess it’s just what you’re used to.

Hopefully this weekend I’ll get some good shots of it when it’s completed (we have a long weekend here in Adelaide woo hoo).... and I’ll write up in quite a bit of detail each bit I did. Shall post some more pics tonight!

Out of interest, I worked out how much the whole bed weighs based on the density of Merbau being 1090kg/m^3 and it comes in at about 300kgs which I reckon is about bang on considering how heavy it is!
Cheers
Luke

Very nicely done.

Just a quick snap of the mock up. Gluing the caps in place over night and have cut the rails to length.

Looks great. You don't walk into a bed joint and buy a bed with so much work put into it.

Looking Very Good

Your work seems to be going very well - new timber these days always seems to be a bit crappy - splitting, warping etc - I don't think it is kiln dried enough. I'd do the tenon joints if you have the time - should help to stop warping over time - job worth doing... etc... Using oil rather than polyurethane should go a long way to help stop the timber from splitting further. Good on you for actually Doing something whilst out of work!!