Thread: Southern Myrtle Bed

Photos 10 & 11 are of the bed head and end clamped to the bench for oiling.

Photo 12 is glueing the cap on the bed end. The same had to be done for the head.

Photo 13 shows the bed assembled without the slats to support the base.

Photo 14 is another view of the finished bed.

It is looking very good BobR,

The myrtle mave have some cranky grain but it looks beautiful when finished. Certainly is a lot of mortices, I bet you are glad you didn't have to do them by hand!!!
Thanks for sharing your work and the different stages of its construction.


One question, what brackets have you used in the legs and where did you get them?

Your daughter is going to be really pleased with that bed

Really great

Chipman

Hi Chipman. Thanks for your comments. The brackets came from Rockler. At the time I obtained them my daughter was in the US so I had them delivered to a friends house and she brought them back. No freight. Very easy to install.

Really beautiful job, you must have alot of patience...... so many mortices.

I have never worked with that type of wood, but it sure comes out looking great.

Have a great day
John

I should point out that the mortices created for the slats in the bed head and end are not drilled out of a single piece of timber. Each rail is made up of two pieces of timber. Using a router and a jig, matching grooves are cut into each piece. These are then glued together prior to creating a tenon on each end.

Very nice Bob!

Bob, that is a very nice bed. Your daughter will be very happy with it. I would add some kind of support in the middle. It is a queen size bed so the middle will sag very quickly if it is not supported. I would make another leg and place it in the middle.

I would make another leg and place it in the middle

Scott I am not sure that another leg is required here. There are five slats to support the base. That is, it is not a mattress going on the slats, but a full base with a mattress on top of it. I would have thought that the base is getting more support than legs/wheels provide. I am open to correction though.

Originally Posted by Wongo

Bob, that is a very nice bed. Your daughter will be very happy with it. I would add some kind of support in the middle. It is a queen size bed so the middle will sag very quickly if it is not supported. I would make another leg and place it in the middle.

Last time I made a queen bed, I used 90 x 19 pine slats and was concerned about sag (or fracture at a knot). What I did was to run a pine stud on its flat full length down the middle underneath the slats with a screw through each slat. I had enough height at head and foot to connect it with some aluminium angle into the ends without it showing. The bed is used by some large adults and there has never been a problem (10yrs now!). I honestly doubt that it even needed to be joined into the foot or the head...just having all the slats tied together down the middle gives good support.

Suggest you try the bed out.... If it shows too much sag, then you have a few alternatives

Chipman

Nice work Bob Have a greenie.

That’s a stunning piece of work Bob the bed looks really nice.

Very nice Bob. Looks like some nice grain on the foot of the bed. I like the design of the bed too.

Thats a beautiful bed Bob, your daughter is very lucky.

Thanks for all of the responses.

Alex, I had to purchase one more plank for the top of the bed end. Although rough sawn, this piece looked as though it was going to have plenty of figure, and also be at the darker end of colour for myrtle - I was not disappointed. Being the bed end and on the top, this is the part that I believe will catch the eye.