Silky Oak Day Bed WIP

**epineh** · 5th October 2009, 11:21 PM

This has a little history to it, about 3 and a half years ago, a little storm named Larry came and huffed and puffed and destroyed our house, to cut a long story short, I reckon I am about back on track where I was before it hit. So to celebrate I am starting to build a day bed to go on the patio of the new house we had to build after the last one disintegrated, from the timber I managed to save that from the carport.

As with most old buildings in North Queensland pretty much everything was made from silky oak, the pieces I am using were the old roof bearers, and a couple of planks that were the fascia.

For now I only have two photo's, the timber as it has been lying under my parents house for the last 3 and a half years and the same timber dressed and cut to approximate sizes.

The lengths were about 5 metres, the fascia is about 220mm by 30mm and the bearers are 4 by 2's, the plan is to make a very basic and chunky frame and plonk a mattress on, so there will be no dovetails, nothing very fancy, just a heavy timber bed. Possibly some CNC cut inlays if I get the time but no promises

A lot of the timber is quarter cut so I am going to try use that part of it as much as possible, it is also very old, there are nail holes but I am going to try hide where possible but not throw away good sized timber if there is a hole or two, they don't sell stuff like this anymore...

Enough of my ranting, here are the photo's, this is a work in progress so you will have to bear with me, I have three kids and a wife, they take priority, so things will probably be slow, but I thought I would post my progress to keep me honest and hopefully keep things moving.

Cheers.

Russell.

**masoth** · 5th October 2009, 11:51 PM

Your bundle has dressed-up nicely, epineh. We all have great patience when a WIP is being shown in piccies. Good luck.

soth

**artme** · 6th October 2009, 05:25 AM

There is some beautiful grain in that timber. Should look great for the chosen purpose. Nice to see you could salvage something from the house and recycle it.

**burraboy** · 6th October 2009, 06:59 AM

Lovely stuff Russ, don't be afraid of a few nail holes!

**epineh** · 6th October 2009, 10:16 PM

Thanks guys, I know it isn't much to look at yet but so far so good. I didn't get to do anymore today but hopefully some more will get done over the weekend, one of the pieces that is yet to be dressed has some impressive looking quater cut patterns, I intend to use this on the armrest and back/top piece as they will be the most visible I guess.

I will also rip some more pieces to form slats to go along the back, it is a simple design I have in mind but will probably be a back breaker to move...SWMBO is already talking of making a second one to match, she may change her mind when she sees the finished product

Cheers.

Russell.

**tea lady** · 6th October 2009, 10:41 PM

Oh! Silky! I loooooooooooooooove silky!

Watching with interest.

**epineh** · 7th October 2009, 08:39 PM

Did a little more today, no photo's, forgot the camera but it doesn't really look much different, BUT I did get an offcut and gave it a quick sand and coat of varnish for a test, this is for you Tea Lady since you like the Silky Oak so much ! The bottom of the photo looks a bit funny, it is a combination of the flash and it isn't coated...it was a quick test after all

Cheers.

Russell.

**artme** · 7th October 2009, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by epineh

Did a little more today, no photo's, forgot the camera but it doesn't really look much different, BUT I did get an offcut and gave it a quick sand and coat of varnish for a test, this is for you Tea Lady since you like the Silky Oak so much ! The bottom of the photo looks a bit funny, it is a combination of the flash and it isn't coated...it was a quick test after all

Cheers.

Russell.

Careful!! After TL's last post you won't be able to hold her back!!

**epineh** · 8th October 2009, 08:54 PM

Couple of new pics, I have the back top and bottom rails cut to length, cornered, slotted and stuck together with the backing slats, all silky oak of course

At the moment it is all just glued together, next is to rebate the back legs and dowel in the rails. I just realized that the photo's are showing the back, on the front side the quarter cut is quite nice on the top rail, also the slats ended up with some nail holes, most will be covered by the mattress, gotta be happy with that !

Pictures tell the story...

Cheers.

Russell.

**tea lady** · 8th October 2009, 10:40 PM

Preeeeeeeetty!

**epineh** · 21st October 2009, 08:23 PM

I have been a little busy at work but my mate that is helping me make this has been busy while I have been away, sorry about the photo quality, the light wasn't the best and I only had my phone handy.

I have to decide what to do about the slats that the mattress will sit on, basically I can get some pine slats and use them, or rip another 4 by 2 down and make silky oak slats, I realize that they will not be seen once the mattress goes on but I don't like the idea of using pine...any body have any thoughts on this ?

On one hand it seems a waste of good timber to use oak, on the other it is a shame to use it for mattress slats, maybe a toss of a coin is the best option

Cheers.

Russell.

**artme** · 22nd October 2009, 07:13 AM

Would NOT use pine and would be loathe to use the SO.

How about some good dressed Hardwood? Then you can use the SO in another project where WE can see it.

I expect TL to second this motion.

**epineh** · 22nd October 2009, 10:27 PM

Allrighty I bit the bullet and decided to use the Oak for the slats, my thinking is that the bed is made completely from the old house, the bearers are 4 by 2's and about 5 metres long, (sorry for mixing the measurement format

) so by using one more and cutting 1 metre off another I have the slats taken care of. Today I cut them into 950mm lengths and split them in half to make two slats a little over 20mm thick once run through the planer, all up I will use 12 slats about 100mm wide.

No photo's right now but all that is left is to fix the slats, finish sanding and coat, with a bit of luck it should be on the patio on the weekend...or maybe next weekend

Cheers.

Russell.

**artme** · 24th October 2009, 08:51 AM

I see your point Russell. Just don't agree.

IMHO So should never be hidden from sight.

**epineh** · 30th October 2009, 09:33 PM

All done, sorry Artme but I used the silky oak to make slats, though I did pick through and used the worst pieces, holes, no quarter cut grain etc...

Also we had some unused dressed pieces so my mate went ahead and made a coffee table with the leftovers.

It rained a little while I was driving home with the bed on the trailer so the slats look a little weird, we left them as raw timber, and I gave them a quick wipe over with a towel before I took photo's.

Cheers.

Russell.

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