Bed frame corner post lumber

[Jeremy Patrick]

Have a bed fame project I'm about to jump into, except for one thing. This is for a king bed frame with storage drawers. May sound familiar as I had another post about the drawer rail hardware options.

I have a huge selection of red pine, true 2x6 that came from my folks farm about 15 years ago. Excellent boards, prime grade if I had to put a rating to it. Anyway, the majority of the bed frame will be made from this.
The point I hadn't quite realized is what to do about the corner posts. The plans I'm basing this design off of say to pick up regular old 4x4's, but that generally means fir posts, most of them core cuts, from the box stores. Prob not the best combo for trying to keep a nice stained finish of pine throughout. Most likely the reason all the pictures I've seen of the initial design are painted over....

A milling shop down the road from me said they could take some premium grade pine and laminate it to make a 4x4, but the rough quote they gave was a couple hundred for a 12' length.
I know there are a few actual saw mills in the general area but I haven't had the chance to call and see what options they might have.

Not terribly keen on that price point for the milling shop just for a 4x4 post.

Would anyone have some suggestions on what to do for end posts given this scenario? Maybe an option with the lumber I already have?

[Bill Dufour]

joint then glue two or three 2x6's flat together to make a laminated 4x4.
Bill

[Jim Morgan]

Don't know what equipment you have or what post lengths you need, but why not laminate them yourself?

[Ken Platt]

If you don't want to just face glue (laminate) a couple of the 2x6's like Bill said, you can make a post without any lamination lines showing by bevel ripping pieces of the 2x6's and gluing them up into your post. You could also do this with a lock miter bit. I made 4 bed posts from red oak using this technique to get QS grain on all 4 faces of the posts, and while it was a bit of work, it came out great, and you can't see any lines to tell that it's not just 1 piece of solid wood (well, I guess now after glueup it is, but you get what I mean).

Ken

[Jeremy Patrick]

I suppose without saying it outright I was wondering if trying to laminate two boards together would be just as fine to do myself as one option.
I have a jointer that I got from my dad. I'm in the process of trying to get the blades level, so not quite ready yet.
The woodworking energy force reminded me how sharp my blades still are with a nice slice through my thumb, so in the interest of digit preservation im slowing it down a few notches to get this right without further injury.

the head posts would would be about 45" and the foot about 34". The bed is going up against a knee wall so it's a bit shorter than the typical setup. Although 45" isn't terribly short or long, does glue provide enough bonding strength to bring two of these boards together face to face for a seamless bond?

Ken, could you give a bit more detail on the lock mitre approach? Rather like the approach on an increased surface bonding area through the contoured router cut. I understand bring two boards together at an angle for that, but unless I'm picturing it wrong that would give a |_ type of join and not quite make a 4x4 right? The other method of bevel ripping, could you give an example of that? I'm picturing 4 pieces cut at 45's to come together as a square, but what I picture isn't always what I'm supposed think.
Im one of those 90% visual guys. If I can see it, I can do it.

[Bill Dufour]

If the faces are jointed flat the joint is stronger then the wood. modern wood glue is stronger then wood. But the wood has to lay flat and in complete contact before glueup. If you have to use clamps to bend it to fit together it will not be as strong as solid wood.

[Jim Morgan]

Many mortise & tenon joints, on which chairs depend to resist racking and twisting forces, have ~2-3 square inches of gluing surface. Your posts, which will be subject
to negligible forces, have ~136 (shorter) or ~180 (longer) square inches of gluing surface if face-glued. In other words, no problem so long as the joint is prepared well

Where are you? Perhaps a nearby creeker could offer some hands-on assistance.

[Jeremy Patrick]

I can see the logic in the surface area covered in terms of strength. Guess I hadn't realized the bonding strength of the glue was so great (or the quality of the glue I had used on a few things in the past was that bad!)

Going to hopefully get the jointer blades set this afternoon and shave down a few boards.

I'm in the Appleton WI area, about a half hour from Green Bay.

[Jim Becker]

There are a variety of ways to fabricate posts like this and doing it yourself leaves you in control of what they will look like when you are done. Things like the show grain on the faces... ;)

[Jeremy Patrick]

very true. When I was typing up this initial post, I was trying to think of why I would want to pay a place $200 to do this when the same type of options are available to me in my own shop.
Just needed a bit of confirmation :-)

[Wayne Lomman]

Yes, do it yourself. Do them as 4 individual posts, not one long length like the mill was going to do. Cheers

[scott vroom]

Another suggestion is to face glue 2 of your 2 x boards and then rip some 1/8" veneers to glue over the 2 sides with the exposed joint.

[Jeremy Patrick]

Was able to shave down 4 of the pine boards this afternoon. As I was stacking them clean face to clean face they looked pretty flat but I'll have to go over them again and soo if any fine tuning needs to be done prior to gluing.
Titebond II is still the flavour of choice right?

[Clint Baxter]

Was able to shave down 4 of the pine boards this afternoon. As I was stacking them clean face to clean face they looked pretty flat but I'll have to go over them again and soo if any fine tuning needs to be done prior to gluing.
Titebond II is still the flavour of choice right?

II would be fine. III would give additional working time in addition to bring waterproof, if that would be beneficial. Clamp it well and you should come out golden.

Clint

[Jeremy Patrick]

Can't see a huge need for waterproofing for a bed frame, but good info for a project that might be closer to water!

[Pat Barry]

Another suggestion is to face glue 2 of your 2 x boards and then rip some 1/8" veneers to glue over the 2 sides with the exposed joint.
I agree with this if appearance is important. Sometimes its not important , but if you want a uniform looking surface then adding the veneers is a nice way to get there. (of course, you still will have the joint line on the top of the post)

[Brian Tymchak]

In my experience, TB II dries a bit too orange with light colored woods. TB III will dry a bit too brown, both leaving a noticeable glue line. I've used Gorilla Wood Glue for light woods. It leaves less of a noticeable glue line, IMHO. Open time shouldn't be too much of a concern on 4' pieces.

[Nick Decker]

+1 on the Gorilla Wood Glue. Just be sure you get the WOOD glue. Kinda disappears on light colored wood.

[Jeremy Patrick]

very cool, was about to use II but I'll swing by and see what the Gorilla Wood bottles are going for.

[lowell holmes]

On the bed project's I've done, I used 4x4's. IMO, they re what you see. They really need to be perfect.