Cherry loft bed complete

[Paul Cahill]

Finally finished a cherry loft bed I have been working on for the past year. I spent 600 to 700 hours on it, partly because there were so many aspects of it that were new to me. It would be prudent to keep my day job for the time being. I used about 250 board feet of cherry that I have been sitting on for over 25 years. The plywood was all A-1 from Columbia Forest Products – nice stuff. The project had lots of firsts for me:
- mortise and tenon joints;
- use of hand planes for surface prep. instead of sanding;
- dovetails on a router table;
- edge-banding with ¼” strips;
- use of a card scraper to address tearout and for the final cleanup of the edge-banding;
- Oil / Varnish finish.

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I have a separate thread on the build here. (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175361-Loft-bed-build-frame&highlight=)

Comments are welcome.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Wow, that looks like a lot of work. Is this a design of your own? It looks like it makes very good use of space.
I'm sure the end user loves it.

[Paul Cahill]

Wow, that looks like a lot of work. Is this a design of your own? It looks like it makes very good use of space.
I'm sure the end user loves it.

Thanks for the comment. Yes, it is my own design. I made it to fit the space. I pushed the steps into the corner to avoid having to need a rail for that side. I left about 1" gap all around and if I had to do it again, I would have left a little more. Assembly was very tight - an extra coat of oil and I might not have made it fit.

Paul

[ian maybury]

Nicely done Paul - there's a pretty comprehensive skills work out in that. It looks well. Now you've done it - you'll be getting more 'orders'. :)

I find also that the hours in stuff accumulates in a scary manner. One of the most involving aspects of a project like that is often the whole business of measurement, and of making stuff to fit in a less than perfectly square and/or flat space. There tend to be considerations in there that the casual observer doesn't even figure exist.

I guess in some ways the skill to doing that sort of thing commercially is not in fact even the obvious basic ability to 'do it'. There's as you suggest a subtle and indescribable learning process involved where after long enough you don't have to bust your brains figuring out every step - you just get stuck in and 'do' it....

I guess eventually the mind backs out and the oft mentioned 'flow' kicks in. All very Zen....

ian

[John Gregory]

Paul,
WOW!!!

There is nothing that I do not love about your project. Besides being beautiful, your design is so innovative. So much built in storage.

[Gordon Eyre]

Very nice job Paul. I like the way you built in storage and made excellent use of the space.

[Aaron Berk]

I'd like to compliment you as eloquently as Mr Ian did, but words are failing me now......

So "You Suck" will just have to do.


Nicely done Paul - there's a pretty comprehensive skills work out in that. It looks well. Now you've done it - you'll be getting more 'orders'. :)

I find also that the hours in stuff accumulates in a scary manner. One of the most involving aspects of a project like that is often the whole business of measurement, and of making stuff to fit in a less than perfectly square and/or flat space. There tend to be considerations in there that the casual observer doesn't even figure exist.

I guess in some ways the skill to doing that sort of thing commercially is not in fact even the obvious basic ability to 'do it'. There's as you suggest a subtle and indescribable learning process involved where after long enough you don't have to bust your brains figuring out every step - you just get stuck in and 'do' it....

I guess eventually the mind backs out and the oft mentioned 'flow' kicks in. All very Zen....

ian

Awesome Job and excellent design.

[Stew Hagerty]

That is very nice Paul. It's a great design, especially with the economical use of space. If my granddaughter didn't live so far away, I would love to build something like this for her.

[Brent Ring]

Nice Work! Always cool ideas on the 'creek!

[Paul Saffold]

Very nice design. Well planned use of space. You should be proud. Paul

[Paul Cahill]

Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments. It was for my youngest daughter, who is also very proud of it. I had originally intended something much simpler following a trip to IKEA in Atlanta. I gave her the job of researching design ideas, and one thing led to another.....:D. I am just as pleased with what I learned in the process as in the end result, and of course I just HAD to get some tools along the way.

Paul

[Joe A Faulkner]

Paul, I love the project. Really well done. And for years to come, I'm sure it will be in the family, and it truly is a one of a kind piece. The matching pieces round out a great looking set.

[gary Zimmel]

I'm sure you made your daughter real proud. Lots of innovation on this build.
Real nice job Paul..