First serious project -- bed frame

[Steven Mikes]

Trying to take a few pictures along the way of my first serious project, a queen size bed frame for the wife and I. I went with Poplar for the wood because it's cheap and easy to work with.

First step was preparing the legs. found a long piece of ~3"x6" wood at the lumber yard and ripped it in half by hand to get 3"x3" legs. Used by jack plane and jointer plane to clean them up.

[Steven Mikes]

Next came the side rails. After preparing the stock I used a rebate plane to cut a deep rebate to eventually support the mattress. Next I did the mortise and tennon joints, leaving a few inches protruding on the other side to accommodate a pin. The idea is to not use any metal hardware to keep the frame together.

[Steven Mikes]

Phase 3: Foot board.

I wanted to put a gentle concave curve on the top. I measured in to specific depths at points along the board and then drew a freehand curve connecting them. I wasn't sure at first how best to cut the majority of the waste out. At first I started using my spokeshave, and quickly realized that it would take forever that way. I tried a coping saw and gave that up almost immediately as well. After thinking it over for a minute, I made crosscuts down to just shy of my line about every inch, then used a chisel to knock the pieces out. After paring down most of the remaining corners standout out with a chisel, I then used the spokeshave to finish shaping the curve. Final smoothing was done with sandpaper by hand.

I had some trouble with spokeshave, it's the Veritas low angle spokeshave. The blade kept dropping out of the tool while I was using it, even after I had used sandpaper to scratch up the contact surfaces. I called Veritas ont he phone and spoke to them about it, they said that it should work fine, and suggested I spend a couple more hours with it before giving up, and offered to take it back for an exchange or full refund. I decided to give it another try, first taking a file and roughing up all the blade contact surfaces even more. It seemed to work after that, so far the blade hasn't fallen out again (fingers crossed for next time). One thing I noticed is the thumbscrews seem to work themselves loose from the vibrations during use sometimes, maybe that was part of why the blade fell out. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make sure the blade stays firmly in the tool I'd appreciate it.

After joining the board to the legs with M&T joints, I decided to pin them with walnut dowels. I borrowed a neighbor's drill press to bore the holes, then sanded down the dowel to fit the hole. I made a couple mistakes here too.
One of the dowels seemed to fit snugly so I started hammering it in, but it got too tight about half way through. I took a punch and hit it out again from the other side, but it tore out some of the wood at the surface when it exited the hole. I was able to glue it down pretty well and plane over, it's hard to notice now.
Another dowel made it about 3/4 through before the top of the dowel where I was hammering split. The split piece ended up wedging itself in, slightly expanding the hole at the top. Driving the pin the rest of the way through was hopeless, so I gave up and started another piece from the other side just to finish filling the hole. In the end I'm pretty pleased with how it looks though. Again, any suggestions here on how to avoid these problems in the future would be greatly appreciated!

[Chet R Parks]

I have the LV low angle shave but have not had the experience of the blade falling out or moving. But that shouldn't happen. You might want to try a small piece of that white silicone plumbers pipe tape on the threads of the thumbscrews to help close up the tolerance between the threads???

[Brandon Speaks]

That looks great to me. Just last night my wife was talking about getting a new mattress and I was toying with the idea of taking a shot at a bed frame build.

[David Eisenhauer]

Outstanding start to your first serious project Steven. Great photos and a good explanation of your work sequence. This will be a good thread I predict. Sticking dowels: Are the dowels set up as draw pins? If so, how much offset did you use? Are the dowels tapered on the driving end? Was glue used? If so, try liquid hide glue instead of yellow glue (if that is what you used) because the LHG is slippery (lubes the pins) and yellow glue tends to be "grabby". I see your apprentice hanging close by to lend a hand as required. Good stuff, even better than a shop dog :)

[Steven Mikes]

David,
I had to look up what draw pins are, but no they are not. I just drilled straight through the already assembled joint. I tried to glue the first one but quickly realized it made it more difficult to insert, so I removed the glue and didn't glue any of them.

My apprentice is generally over-helpful, always handing me tools when I don't need them :P

[Brian Holcombe]

Great project Steven!

[David Eisenhauer]

Please tell us about your planes.

[Mike Allen1010]

Great job Stephen – thanks a lot for sharing your build pics – very inspirational!


I really like your clean design and your execution is excellent. I particularly love the through wedged, knockdown mortise and tenon joints – very attractive and functional!


The sheer size of the materials/components involved in building a bed makes for a very physically demanding build. I really admire your determination in making a bed your first project. Ripping that 16/4 Poplar into legs by hand is a Herculean task just by itself – you deserve a medal! Having completed this bed so successfully I'm sure whatever your next project is, it will feel like a walk in the park by comparison.


Your "apprentice" is absolutely adorable! You certainly don't need any advice from me, but as the father of 2 grown boys myself I encourage you to make a special effort to hang onto those shop pictures of your "helpful apprentice" – before you know it you may find yourself building him a wedding chest :):)


Thanks again for sharing. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!


Cheers, Mike

[Christopher Charles]

+1 to what Mike said. Great project and looking forward to seeing more. Thanks for sharing.

[Mark Rainey]

That is an impressive rip for the bed posts, but I think it is 12/4, not 16/4. Both are quite a chore however

[Steven Mikes]

That is an impressive rip for the bed posts, but I think it is 12/4, not 16/4. Both are quite a chore however
You're correct, the original piece was ~3"x6"


Please tell us about your planes
From left to right:
ECE Jointer
Veritas LA Jack Plane
Veritas BU Smoother (Just arrived earlier this week!!)
LN Block Plane
Veritas LA spokeshave
Veritas medium shoulder plane (I very much like this one, really helps with the tennons. The adjustable brass knob on it and the finger hole are clutch)
ECE rebate plane
ECE scrub plane
And a Veritas router plane in the back.

I was trying to maximize performance/dollar (buying new tools, obviously rehabbing old ones would be cheaper but more time consuming). The wedged ECE planes are great for this.

[David Eisenhauer]

Thanks Steve. The ECE rebate plane has been interesting to me for a while now. How is it on cross grain work?

[Steven Mikes]

Don't think I can give a fair review for cross-grain. Before I got the Veritas shoulder plane I used it to clean up some tennons (cross grain cutting) and it worked fine.

[Kevin Lauck]

A bed frame is my next project as well! Looks like yours is coming along! Keep us updated!
Kevin

[Steven Mikes]

Next up: Headboard. I think I'm getting better at the M&T joints having done a few now, they went together much cleaner on the first try. I also just re-watched Chris Schwartz' video on preparing a board by hand and finally absorbed all the information in it. What a difference it makes! Of course I waited until the last board to do it the right way....
I was more exact with the curve marking this time. Deciding that circles are boring, I instead opted for a hyperbolic cosine function to describe the curve (also known as a catenary curve). I calculated the distances and made the appropriate marks every inch along the top. Then I sawed down to the mark, knocked out most of the waste block with a chisel, then finished the curve with my block plane. The block plane works great for convex curves.
After finishing the curved top piece I did the straight bottom one fairly quickly. Assembled them to test the fit, and everything looks good! Of course now I couldn't resist putting the side rails in with the foot board too to see how it looks. I cot some clear pine 1x4's for slats, going to make cutouts in the side rails so they lie in flush.
Getting close to finishing! All that's left is to take care of the slats, then finish the headboard. I plan to put bars in between the two horizontal pieces of purple heart. Or maybe walnut if I decide it's too hard to work with, we'll see. I have a bunch though, might as well use it. Then glue all the headboard pieces together and pin the joints.
There's one open item left: what kind of finish would suit a bed frame? I don't really want to stain the wood. I know some (most?) people find poplar wood unattractive, but I really like the coloration and want to keep it. Would a couple coats of danish oil be enough to protect it?

[David Eisenhauer]

If you do end up trying to color poplar, it will splotch if stain is used. I am not a big believer in strictly oil finishes for furniture that will see some use. I know that lots of folks like oil finishes due to ease of application and the coloration in the grain they can bring out, but I sort of feel like lots of folks sort of kind of give up when it comes to the finishing stage by always grabbing for the Danish oil. Danish oil does very little, if anything at all, to protect the wood. If ease of application is a driver, you can always create your own wiping poly that will add a bunch more protection than oil. Shellac also provides more protection and could be good for a bed frame. Maybe oil first to bring out the grain, dewaxed shellac to isolate/seal in the oil, then four coats of wiping poly to top it all off. I'm like you in that I have seen lots of poplar that looks OK, just as long as I stay away from the stuff that has green streaks in it. BTW, nice looking frame that should be around for a while.

[Steven Mikes]

Work continues. I finished chopping out the slat slots™ in the side rails, first couple pictured below. Actually those are the only ones I chopped entirely by chisel, I then decided that was too much work and used a drill with forstner bit to do the bulk of the waste removal. Next comes the last bit of preparation: the bars (stiles?) for the head board. I'm using some purple heart wood I bought on sale. Kind of regretting that purchase a little, it's bit of a PITA to work with. I supposed it'll be worth it in the end because it really is gorgeous.

I keep cursing myself when making the rip cuts. Just can't get the saw line to stay straight all the way down. Especially have trouble with the ryoba saw. I had a little more luck with the Disston but it's still quite ugly. Just filed my taxes, making me think about using some of that return money to buy a bandsaw...
Got 4 bars cut to size now (1 with the tennons done), only like 8-10 more to go...

[Brian Holcombe]

Looks great! Really enjoying this project!

I wouldn’t buy a bandsaw just yet, s bit of suffering is good as you will gain great insight into cutting with saws of all kinds.

[David Eisenhauer]

Steven - Are you familiar with the method for ripping with a hand saw where you follow the line closely on one side of the board with the saw dropped down at the handle end for a part of the cut, then turn the board around and cut from the other side in the same fashion? This allows you to follow one side of the line where you can see the cut and keep it on line without affecting much of the back side of the cut that you cannot see. Turning the board around to continue the cut then allows you to follow the line on that side with the saw staying in the cut on the opposite side. You sort of leap frog the cut down as you flip the board back and forth. The cut comes out pretty good and a plane will clean it up to the line you left showing or to new line created just on the edge of your cut.

[Steven Mikes]

I think I read this somewhere before, I'll give it a try for the next cut for sure. Won't get much shop time until next week, busy pulling off old flooring in the kitchen area now :\

In Chris Schwarz' video on youtube about preparing stock by hand, he makes a rip cut with the piece clamped horizontally to the bench. He hold the saw vertically for the cut. Would that be a technique worth learning as well?

[David Eisenhauer]

I have not seen the CS video but I bet Paul Sellers is bound to have something out that shows the method I was talking about. As the closer to a true vertical a cut you make, the more important it is maintain a 90 deg angle of the saw plate to the stock (E & W) you are cutting. If you stay 90 deg, the cut on the backside follows the line that you cannot see. With the saw held at a long angle (N & S) rather than closer to 90 deg to the cutting surface, the less critical the 90 deg (E & W) angle is. With the "laid back" approach to cutting, you are advancing the cut mostly along the line you can see and not so much on the back side. Flip the board, then cut that side you can see. The laid back method can be performed on a board in either the vertical or horizontal position and is largely determined by your saw bench or vise options.

[William Fretwell]

When you first start wood work a simple large project like this (mine was a queen size) bed frame is very rewarding and shows ones spouse the value of wood working!
Your dowel problem may be due to making your own dowels. It should only be a snug fit, the glue will expand the wood in the hole. Offsetting the tenon hole slightly can help make things tight and improve the joint fit. Compressing the dowel in a metal jawed vice may help a little. You can buy a dowel plate to make your own dowels to get a consistent size, you bang them through with a mallet.
Some people make their own dowel plate.
Look forward to seeing the end result.

[Steven Mikes]

It's finally done! Had a burst of rapid work while the family was away in Taiwan followed by none at all after I joined them, but now we're all home and it's done. I'm actually lying in the bed right now writing this :)


Finally finished all the bars, by the end I was getting pretty good at doing the tenons. The Z-saw I'm using for this detailed work is meant more for cross cuts though so it was kind of slow with the rip cuts, clearly it is time for another saw ;)

Making the square holes was quick, I used a drill first and then squared them with a chisel. I test fit all the bars to make sure they fit, some of them took a couple sharp taps with the hammer but they all went in.

Finally it was time to assemble the head board. I applied glue to one side and hammered all twelve bars in, then did the same for the other side. Or tried to, to be more accurate. Turns out that making the joints fit so tight is great for one, but if you are trying to assemble twelve of them simultaneously it is damn near impossible to make them go in. I requisitioned my wife for help holding the work piece, then started wailing away at it with the hammer. It worked, sort of, but very slow and with great difficulty. I then had the genius idea of using the vise on the bench to squeeze the bars in: that might have actually worked if it didn't split my work bench apart at one of the glue joints first :( So back to hammering like a madman it was. They did eventually all go in almost all the way. The top surface of the arced horizontal piece was totally marred by then though so I had to plane it down about a millimeter. The legs went on pretty easily afterwards luckily.

All that was left then was finishing. Per earlier suggestions (Thanks!) I put 1 coat of danish oil followed by 3 coats of wiping poly. After that I took everything upstairs and assembled it. I had to trim some of the slats to fit into their slots, hence the shavings on the carpet. The 4 pegged joints seem to be holding up well so far. One of them took a bit more persuasion from the hammer to lock tight, might have to adjust that wedge later if it comes loose.

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[Jim Koepke]

Looks good, purple heart is one of my favorite wood colors.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

Very nice! Love the contrast between the purpleheart and the poplar.

[Phil Mueller]

Steven, excellent work! Your joinery looks far beyond a “first major project”, and I think the purple heart and purple sort of hues you can get in Poplar will complement well. I use it on many projects as well. It’s a kinda funny wood, I have some projects where the purple has held well. On others, it has darkened to a more brown tone. Never know.

The only thing that struck me was the length of the through tenon. Not sure if they will be shin bruisers...but you should be proud of the work. Enjoy the bed!

[Steven Mikes]

Phil, my wife complained about that too (the through tennon length) but I told her I'm worried about the joint strength since poplar is fairly soft. Am I being too cautious with it? I could saw it shorter if you can convince me that less is ok.