Bed for my son

[Daniel Hartmann]

I'm starting a bed for my 4.5 yo son. I have already purchased and rough cut the lumber but after starting to work with the wood I'm a little unsure I made the right choice. I'm basically copying a pottery barn bed and they claim theirs is made from "spruce solids". So, I figured if they think spruce is ok then I should be good to use eastern white pine. Is eastern white pine strong enough for a double bed? Should I use something else for the rails, say SYP? I posted here because I'm using all hand tools to build the bed.

thanks!

[Jim Koepke]

My thoughts on a bed for a 4-1/2 year old would be to use ply wood and cut it to look like a race car or a speed boat.

Why a double bed?

My wife and I have a bed made out of western pine at queen size, but it is more of a box on a platform bed than a standard bed with rails, box spring and slats.

Here are some pictures:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?142550-Platform-Bed

jtk

[Bruce Haugen]

Whether a particular wood is strong enough for anything is highy dependent upon the dimensions of your support pieces. I once lifted the mattress on an Ikea bed and found the supports were 1/2" X 3" pine slats, supported on the ends and with a support piece running the length of the bed down the center. They probably think that's enough; I sure don't. I've made 5 beds, but the slats on mine were full inch-thick ash, 1 X 3-1/2" with no center support on a queen-size bed. No center support was needed. The rails on these beds were all 1-1/2" X 6" ash or oak.

In general, spruce is stiffer than pine.

[Daniel Hartmann]

I'm building a double/full bed so it can be something he can grow with/into. Plus, our 2.5 yo occasionally sleeps with him. I bought all my stock in 8/4" and it's actually ~2 1/8" thick. I roughed the rails out of the stock at about 6" wide x 2" thick. I'm mainly worried the rails need to be something stiffer, is this a valid concern?

[Bruce Haugen]

I would think the rails would be plenty stiff. As you engineer how the slats are connected to the rails,make sure there is some method to prevent the rails from being pushed apart.

[Jim Koepke]

I roughed the rails out of the stock at about 6" wide x 2" thick.

Will you be adding a piece at the bottom as a ledge for the slats?

You may want to use your friend Google and search with terms like > lumber strength < or > lumber structural properties < for more information.

searching > lumber strength < brought up "Wood Structural Design Data" in the second hit:

http://www.awc.org/pdf/WSDD/wsdd.pdf

It is a free 270 page booklet that should help with your question. The section on wooden beams starts on booklet page 28 or .pdf page 33. The chapter before that is properties of structural lumber.

For me, I usually just see how much a piece flexes or how well it resists flexing with my body weight and make my judgement from that. A 2X6 should make a great bed rail. My dad had a furniture store and most bed rails are thinner than that. In later years many were reinforced by bolting the lumber to an angle iron that was the support for the slats.

If you are going to use pin supports in the end posts to support the sides, you could just use standard metal bed rails with you wood pieces attached.

Sorry if this all sounds like rambling, but I have not had any coffee as of yet and much of the thought came to me whilst responding.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

I would think the rails would be plenty stiff. As you engineer how the slats are connected to the rails,make sure there is some method to prevent the e rails from being pushed apart.

A good item to consider. It can be prevented by adding some dowels to the slats in the center if you want to eliminate worries on this front.

Though the forces on the side rails will be almost all downward with almost no side to side forces. At least not until your kids grow up and pretend the bed is the ocean and practice their surfing moves. :eek:

jtk

[phil harold]

my nephew made that bed last month
I think your choice will be fine

the specs seem close
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/softwoods/spruce-pine/
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/softwoods/eastern-white-pine/

[Bruce Haugen]

A good item to consider. It can be prevented by adding some dowels to the slats in the center if you want to eliminate worries on this front.

Though the forces on the side rails will be almost all downward with almost no side to side forces. At least not until your kids grow up and pretend the bed is the ocean and practice their surfing moves. :eek:

jtk

My daughter learned that the hard way. I made her bed. She moved and didn't take the time to screw the slats to the rails, as they were intended to be. She got unusually rambunctious and found herself sitting on the floor.:)

[Daniel Hartmann]

Thanks for all the replies! I plan on using bed bolts and a stub tenon for the rail to head/foot board connection. My lumber yard had a bunch of hard maple 4/4" on sale for $1/bf so I plan to use that for slats. I may notch the slats and and add some dowel stubs on the rail ledger to keep the slats put. Thanks for all the input, it sounds like I should be okay with white.

[Sam Stephens]

I'll 2nd Bruce's specs. Rail strength really depends on the thickness and width. In general 1 1/2" thick is plenty sturdy, <1" you may be taking chances; 4-5" wide should suffice though wider would be stronger. You can easily laminate boards together to get the rail thickness. I did this for my daughter's bed and used the "inside" board as the slat support (soft maple). for slats, I'd also shoot for 7/8-1" thick ~ 3 1/2 - 4" wide and space them ~1/2" (yes that's a lot of slats about 15-16 I think). I used dowel pins to align the slats.

256286

[Jim Koepke]

My lumber yard had a bunch of hard maple 4/4" on sale for $1/bf so I plan to use that for slats.

Makes me want to know where you are (your profile doesn't include your location). I would even gas up my old truck and drive across state lines for a deal like that.

jtk

[Daniel Hartmann]

Makes me want to know where you are (your profile doesn't include your location). I would even gas up my old truck and drive across state lines for a deal like that.

jtk
I'm in Chattanooga, TN. Trust me though, this maple is nothing worth driving for. It's all 3" wide rippers. Perfect for bed slats though.

[Daniel Hartmann]

I'll 2nd Bruce's specs. Rail strength really depends on the thickness and width. In general 1 1/2" thick is plenty sturdy, <1" you may be taking chances; 4-5" wide should suffice though wider would be stronger. You can easily laminate boards together to get the rail thickness. I did this for my daughter's bed and used the "inside" board as the slat support (soft maple). for slats, I'd also shoot for 7/8-1" thick ~ 3 1/2 - 4" wide and space them ~1/2" (yes that's a lot of slats about 15-16 I think). I used dowel pins to align the slats.

256286
I was able to buy 12-14" wide fat 8/4" clear pine so no need to laminate. Your slat/dowel solution is exactly what I'm planning to do!