Head and foot boards

[Cliff Polubinsky]

I just agreed to build my daughter a bedroom set. The casework is no problem but I have a question on the best way to connect the metal bed rails to the head and foot boards. I'm considering using hanger bolts in the posts. Drill pilot holes, screw the bolts in, then extract them and put some epoxy in the holes and rescrew the bolts back in.

Is there a better method someone could suggest?

Thanks for all suggestions.

Cliff

[Jamie Buxton]

Putting hanger bolts in the headboard and footboard will make them difficult to carry around. The ends of the bolts will be sticking out, and trying to scratch anything you get near them. A better approach is to put your threading in the headboard and footboard, and loose bolts to insert into them. You can use those brass threaded inserts, or mortise a hole from the inside face to insert a square nut. Or if you're going to insert from the side, make your own "nut" by tapping a hole into steel stock that's like 1x1/4x3.

[Jim Dwight]

Jamie's suggestion is sound. My reason for commenting is to say that I will not use a metal bed frame. I understand it is a requested bed but for all my beds, I build platform beds without a boxed spring and certainly no metal frame. Even with a boxed spring, you can use a wooden rail to connect the headboard and footboard and omit the metal frame. After trying a couple designs on slats, ranging from a solid frame to 19mm Baltic birch plywood slats about 3.5 inches wide my favorite is 19 mm plywood slats one foot wide. The width of the slat determines the stiffness.

[Cary Falk]

I agree that hanger bolts will want to scratch everything. Threaded inserts would be better.

[Jim Barstow]

I've built many beds (none with metal bed rails though). Over the years, my head/footboard - rail attachment method has evolved. What I learned is that every kind of connection eventually loosens up unless it is absolutely bulletproof. Beds take a lot of abuse, from both adult and kid activities, and you need a very strong, rigid connection. I now use 2 connector bolts through the posts into cross dowels in the rails. (You could just use nuts on the metal rails.) Depending on the design of the bed, the connector bolt head is either exposed hidden behind a wooden cover. This makes the bed absolutely rigid and easy to break down. I've joked that the beds could be dropped out a window and they wouldn't rack. After my beds are assembled, they move as a unit with no racking. They never, ever creak or squeak no matter how much bouncing...

Whatever you use, avoid clip-together hardware, hanger bolts, L-brackets, or anything that allows the joint to be anything but rigid.

[Jim Barstow]

One comment...

The last bed I built was a sleigh bed for my son and his wife. Their fancy mattress specifically required a solid platform so I used 2 pieces of plywood instead of my normal slats. It was news to me that a mattress could be incompatible with slats.

[Jim Dwight]

I like using the metal connectors that you inlet into the ends of the rails and the posts. I've used them on 3 or 4 beds that see daily use and none has loosened up. They look good and are plenty strong. The only disadvantage is you may need a mallet to take them apart.

[Jim Barstow]

My experience is the exact opposite when I use the metal connectors; all 3 beds became loose. You may need to beef up the bed rails also because the connector puts a huge amount of stress on the very end of the rail. (You are depending on screws into end grain to hold the bed together.) I always put stub tenons on my rails. This makes assembly easier and, with connector bolts, spreads the stress out.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I used these on my bed, and after 15 years, they are still rock solid, with zero slop in them.
http://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-wrought-steel-bed-rail-fasteners-4-pack-select-size

[Jim Dwight]

Gerry posted a link to the same type I use, completely successfully. Some people put large dowels into the rails for the screws but I've never done that. I use 2.5 or 3 inch screws, however, so there are plenty of threads in the end grain. The beds I've used these on were all hardwood, oak, maple and cherry. I try to inlet them such that the rail is tight to the post. That lets the rail transmitt racking forces to the post with the role of the connector just keeping them together.

[Lee Schierer]

Guys many great ideas for wood side rails, but Cliff is going to use metal side rails. Conventional wood joinery won't work.

Many threaded inserts will not take a lot of stress in wood and will pull out or loosen over time. I've used cross dowels on several beds that I've made using metal side rails.
346972
They can easily be embedded into the wood where they will not show but will give secure attachment for the life of the bed. Woodpeckers and others sell them.

You can also use T-nuts If they won't show.
346973

[roger wiegand]

Mortise and tenon with bed bolts. Absolutely bulletproof and rock solid connection with a centuries long track record of success; quite easy to make to boot. Makes the bed very easy to disassemble for moving, especially if you have tall posts. I don't know why anyone messes with anything else-- this is a solved problem with an easy and effective answer.

The first couple of beds I made I used metal hangers; I eventually got tired of the wobbles and squeaks and retrofitted them with a M&T joint with bed bolts. It was a PITA to do that, but it fixed the problems.

[pat warner]

Hardware for sure. (http://patwarner.com/images/connector_bolt.jpg)
Even works (KD) in dinky drawers.
Heads can be polished for decoration or blackened to hide.
Not a particular problem to size and drill your own.
But, to be sure, toggle bolts and cross dowels are king.
A bed has to be pulled this way and that for detailing.
And if it's sitting on a rug and you move it, the stress path will
lead straight to the joinery.

[Jim Becker]

For traditional construction, M&T with bed bolts like Roger mentions is a good method, but you mention a metal bed frame. For that, I'd be using through bolts with washers with the nuts toward the wall and lock washers. A foot board can be mounted similarly, but you'll need to take care of concealing the hardware. Beds have to handle a lot of types of stress over their lifetime, so secure assembly that doesn't loosen is important.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Lee, your mention of bed bolts got my head out of the rut it was in. I've used bed bolts before but always for joining wood to wood like the legs and rails of my Roubo bench. Didn't make the transition to bolting the rails to the bed posts. Must be an age thing. But now it seems an obvious choice.

Cliff