Loft bed for Jamie

**derekcohen** · 28th March 2005, 09:46 PM

Here are pics of the Loft bed I made for Jamie, my 12 year old son.

It is built from pine (I'm not sure what type - very creamy white. Has a Scandanavian look) and jarrah. The pine was stained with a mix of oak and ceder, then finished with Danish Oil and waxed.

The aim was to create more space in his smallish bedroom. Another problem was the lowish ceilings (the remainder of the house has high ceilings but this room was the odd one out). No ceiling fans to decapitate him since we installed aircon several years ago (can't live in Perth without it!).

The bed is sized to fit a king single mattrass. At present he is using a standard single mattrass. Under the bed are a unit with two doors and a bookcase, both made from mostly jarrah.

All joints are mortice-and-tenon. The side rails are reinforced on the inside with angle steel, which doubles to hold the wooden slats (which are bolted through the existing holes). The whole bed was finally bolted to the wall for additional rigidity.

One more bit done, and now I can get back to building something more artistic.

Let me know if want dimensions.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**gatiep** · 28th March 2005, 09:59 PM

Quote:"All joints are mortice-and-tenon. The side rails are reinforced on the inside with angle steel, which doubles to hold the wooden slats (which are bolted through the existing holes). "

Derek,
I am very disappointed!!!!!!!!!! A purist like you who work in the darkside tools, using steel to reinforce and support the slats! I would have expected either morticed and tennoned slats into the side rail, or a groove cut with your Stanley 45 to slide the slats in.

I am sure there are a lot of followers of your craftmanship that are extremely disappointed.

( BTW the angled section was a clever move ) ( Nice work Derek!!! )

Joe, the disappointed!

**derekcohen** · 28th March 2005, 10:22 PM

I am very disappointed!!!!!!!!!!

Actually that angle steel is really just cunningly disguised ironwood from a tree I chopped down and handsawed into boards, then stickered for several years, and hauled out this weekend.

All the pine came from four 4"x4" 3 metre long posts (how is that for mixing up units of measurement!) which I resawed. After resawing on my tablesaw, everything was dimensioned with handplanes (darkside content). There was just enough for the entire job.

At least the side connectors came from Carba-tec

Regards

Derek

**vsquizz** · 28th March 2005, 11:00 PM

Well Derek, what does Jamie think of this??

Joe, Derek steps down to this standard functional, normal woodworker (my type) of joinery once in awhile just to throw the CIA off.

Job well done Derek

Cheers

**Wayne Davy** · 28th March 2005, 11:34 PM

Nice work Derek!

**gatiep** · 29th March 2005, 12:24 AM

Good one Derek, and I suppose when you chopped down the Ironwood tree you used an axe and to rough cut it into planks you used a petrol chainsaw ( without fuel ) by repeatedly pulling the coil starter.

Those slots in the ironwood....did you do them with the dark stuff or did you use a morticer?!

Ok,Ok I'll go take a tablet.

Arve a good one, only 4 more days till the weekend!

**Rusty** · 29th March 2005, 10:54 PM

Nice one, Derek; Might rip off, er, take inspiration, from your work.

Regards,
Rus.

**derekcohen** · 30th March 2005, 04:31 PM

Rus

That's fine. I actually posted these pics with you in mind. Let me know if you want any dimensions.

I spent far more time dimensioning the stock than in cutting and fitting the joints. So it would be a nice easy project for anyone with ready-thicknessed timber. It came out well, is really solid, and best of all Jamie loves it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**Termite** · 30th March 2005, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Rus

That's fine. I actually posted these pics with you in mind. Let me know if you want any dimensions.

I spent far more time dimensioning the stock than in cutting and fitting the joints. So it would be a nice easy project for anyone with ready-thicknessed timber. It came out well, is really solid, and best of all Jamie loves it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Come on Derek, spit it out, it won't hurt. Take a deep breath and say "It would have been a bloody site quicker if I'd used a thicknesser".

**derekcohen** · 30th March 2005, 07:26 PM

Termite, it would have been a bloody site quicker if I'd used a thicknesser! There, I said it.

But that would take the "fun" out of it. Truthfully, one day I will probably get a thicknesser for jobs like these if I have many more to do. While the journey is the thing, as I near the end of jobs like this, there are no surprises or challenges, and I find it all a bit of an intrusion. I'd rather be doing something else (all I could think about as I built the bed was I'd rather be making a bow saw I have planned, and the chisel handles, and ...) So I get impatient and wish for a bloody thicknesser. Then I get a grip and my Neanderthal leanings win out.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**Different** · 30th March 2005, 08:21 PM

Bloody good work Derek I always thin it is hard to address 2 or 3 masters ( problems) and make them all happy as you have done. I especially like the Bookcase.

BTW what sorts of % humidity do you WA guys have to deal with over there in Perth and the SW where most of the woodies live.

A fer weeks back I had a monday with 11% and the tuesday humidity jumped to 96%

Ross

**Wood Butcher** · 30th March 2005, 09:02 PM

Beautiful Work, except SWMBO saw the photo over my shoulder and now expects me to make one for the lad as well as all of the other projects that she has seen here. I haven't even finished my workbench yet. But still well done!!!!

**derekcohen** · 30th March 2005, 11:08 PM

Hi Ross

Perth usually has very low humidity. The temperature gets high in January and February (up to 42 degrees C), but humidity remains low and so all is bearable. But the summer has been quite unusually humid, more so than in several recent years I suspect, but still nothing that approaches my memory of Sydney, when I lived there nearly 2 decades ago.

The two-door unit and bookcase under the bed were made several years ago. Basic frame-and-panel construction (jarrah and ply). I still need to add a few bits of trim to the unit. No point in rushing things and making a mistake

Regards from Perth

Derek

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