Japanese Torii gate inspired bed frame

**ryanarcher** · 18th June 2004, 04:52 PM

this is a bed frame I recently made for SWMBO and I. It's design was inspired by the the japanese gate commonly found at the entrance to gardens and religous areas (I think). The wedged through tenons used to connect the side rails to the posts are solid, but need some more work to make them look tight. The butterfly dovetails (on the posts) are used to connect the two pieces of 8/4 maple. The purpleheart slats on the headboard are 3/8" and flex just enough to make a comfy support for reading in bed. Alas, after spending all my money on timber and tools we can't afford a mattress and I had to rig up a platform for the old futon

. The last picture is a close up of some Japanese joinery on the rails. The little guy's name is Aidan. All coments appreciated. Have a good one!

**ozwinner** · 18th June 2004, 05:48 PM

Hi

Nice work.

Must have taken a while to do?
One question, what is 8/4 maple, the 8/4 bit I dont get, the maple I get.
I like the design, plent of spots for tieing things to.

Sionara, Al

**PaulS** · 18th June 2004, 05:53 PM

Impressive, you have done well.
Can you explain the Japanese joinery on the rails? I have never seen this before.

Paul

**Ben from Vic.** · 18th June 2004, 06:15 PM

Very nice work Ryan.

I see a matching bedside table there, any chance of posting some pics those?

Ben.

**snappperhead** · 18th June 2004, 06:23 PM

i think you went way over the top with the butterfly joints. maybe one or two on the post as it detracts from the mortise/peg feautre which looks far better. would also have made the height of the headboard far shorter, looks very intimidating but i assume you wanted it that height to read in bed or something. what did you finish it with?

**squizcat** · 18th June 2004, 07:12 PM

Hey Ryan,
Looks really excellent. Something to be really proud of!!

Ozwinner, the 8/4 bit is just a measurement standard - everything thickness wise in terms of 1/4'', so eight quarter is two inch...

Matt..

**ryanarcher** · 19th June 2004, 04:06 AM

Originally Posted by ozwinner

Hi

Nice work.

Must have taken a while to do?
Sionara, Al

Al,
It took a few months, but I typically only get about a few hours a week in the shop. I'd estimate about 40 hours. Thanks for the compliment.

Paul,
It's an angled form of pinned scarf lap joint. I'll take a picture of the drawing in the joinery book and post it up here for ya.

Ben,
The bedside table is very similar to the kitchen island that I posted earlier, except without the end-grain top.

Did you make that hand plane in your avatar?

Snappperhead,
I put the butterfly joints in on a whim to give it a look of traditional joinery (before the days of lamination), but you may be right, they may be one of those ideas better left in the garage. It was finished with a Tung oil varnish(fornby's brand).

thanks for all the compliments and ideas guys!
-ryan

**Ben from Vic.** · 19th June 2004, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by ryanarcher

Did you make that hand plane in your avatar?

Ryan

Unfortunatly I didn't make the plane. I don't even own one. I guess it is a bit misleading, maybe I should change it.

The plane was made by a Karl Holtey. We had a small discusion about his planes recently (in particular the price, the plane in the picture is 3,840 pounds :eek: ), and seeing as how they are such works of art, I thought I'd have one as my avatar (does anyone know what 'avatar' means?)

Holtey planes can be found here.......

http://www.holteyplanes.com/

Ben.

**Bob Willson** · 19th June 2004, 01:37 PM

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=400 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=left>Pronunciation: <TT>'a-v&-"tär</TT>
Function: noun
Etymology: Sanskrit avatAra descent, from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses over -- more at UKASE, THROUGH
1 : the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu)
2 a : an incarnation in human form b : an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person
3 : a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity </TD><TD>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

**AlexS** · 19th June 2004, 04:56 PM

Ryan, that is fantastic, although I'm inclined to agree about the butterfly joints. What else have you made to humiliate us with?

**ryanarcher** · 21st June 2004, 05:15 AM

Originally Posted by AlexS

Ryan, that is fantastic, although I'm inclined to agree about the butterfly joints. What else have you made to humiliate us with?

Alex, I'm so glad that you like it. The fact is that I'm the one humbled by the other works posted here. The next projuct is a re-vamp(is that a word in australia, I don't think it's a word at all) of the workbench to include a tail vise and some more oriental joinery.

Paul, here are some diagrams of the scarf lap joint and a pic of the book they came from. have a good one.
-ryan

**Bob Willson** · 21st June 2004, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by ryanarcher

re-vamp(is that a word in australia, I don't think it's a word at all)

Yes Ryan, revamp is a perfectly good word but it isn't hyphenated.

revamp

v 1: to patch up or renovate; repair or restore; "They revamped their old house before selling it"
2: provide with a new vamp; "vamp shoes" [syn: vamp]

**Dan** · 21st June 2004, 02:35 PM

Excellent work Ryan!

I was wondering how the side rails are joined to the corner posts? More pics showing some of the joints closeup would be really good. I think the size of the headboard looks good.

Could you post the ISBN for the book please?

**ryanarcher** · 22nd June 2004, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Dan

Excellent work Ryan!

I was wondering how the side rails are joined to the corner posts? More pics showing some of the joints closeup would be really good. I think the size of the headboard looks good.

Could you post the ISBN for the book please?

Hiya Dan,
thanks for the compliment! the isbn number of the book is: 0881791210. I'll post some pictures of the joinery in a day or so.
-ryan

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