Tiny woodworker on the way

[Eric Stiles]

My wife and I are expecting our first child in June. I have lots of tools and some woodworking experience so I told my wife it would be no problem building a crib. 4 sides and some spindles should be easy enough. Here is the style that she selected. I found the plans but before I purchase them I wanted to see if this was something I could actually handle. I have 2 questions. First, how is the top railing formed? Second, can someone with intermediate woodworking skills build this or am I biting off more than I could chew? Thanks everyone?


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[Kyle Kraft]

Eric,

Congratulations on the new kid! As far as the crib is concerned, nothing like jumping in with both feet:eek: !

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Eric....Congrats on the little future woodworker! Wow....You picked a tough crib to make. Those rails are either steam bent or laminated and bent.........That will be a challenge!

[Jim Becker]

Congrats on the future woodworker on the way!

I'm inclined to agree with the others...this is a doable project, but you're going to be saddled with a lot of new techniques and jigging to pull it off. Challenge is good 'cause you learn from it. The concern here is that you need to have the time available to do the work while learning all those new techniques. Getting bedding for it "locally" will also be a real interesting experience!

Personally, I don't think I'd pick this design because of the huge challenge and the relatively short time it will get used unless you're planning to have several children and are willing to reuse it. That's one of the conundrums with nursery furniture...some pieces are very time limited in usefulness--particularly the crib unless it's convertible to a toddler bed. And many folks choose to go right from a crib to a twin. Maybe working on a set of furniture that has that general look, but, umm...square corners...might be a good compromise?

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Congrats on the new woodworker! As far as the crib goes, I fully agree with Mr. Becker.

[Pete Brown]

Congratulations!

Besides going square, aquaint yourself with the safety requirements of a crib. They are specific about how the sides can come down, how far they can come down, how close the slats must be, how tight the mattress must fit, how high any posts can stick above the rails, etc. The tolerances around the mattress size are especially important. I'd even recommend purchasing the mattress before you build the crib, just to make sure.

I was originally going to build a crib, but we decided to co-sleep (http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/t071000.asp) instead. (we have a very firm mattress on a king-sized bed). Worked out better for everyone :)

While a beautiful crib can be a great project, crib days are over before you know it and you'll have to find someplace to store it for the twenty-some-odd years it is not in use. You may want to build something longer-lasting (height-adjustable desk, bookcases, twin bed, toy storage cubbies ...) Commercial cribs are made to be knocked-down for storage but even then they take up quite a bit of room.

I won't want to sound discouraging. I'm mainly recapping the conversation my wife had with me before our son was born. She was right, and I'm glad I listened for once ;)

Pete

[Larry Fox]

Congrats on the coming addition. I agree with what the others have said regarding the crib. Despite the fact that this is late January and your child is not due until June, you will have a lot of things to do between now and then and your time will be very scarce as the date gets closer. Last thing you want to do is to add something that will distract you from attending to the million little details you need to attend to when expecting.

[Kristian Wild]

We've just been have those conversations around our house too. We're due in another 10 weeks or so and I was thinking my wife would be keen to have a crib that I made. Well she set me straight... In her words: "Why should you spend so much time on something like that that will only be used for a year or two when so many of our friends have ones they'll be getting rid of or loaning out shortly. Your energies would be much better spent on things our whole family will use for many years."

So there you go. While building something like that for your little bambino will mean alot, it may not be that practical. The hardware for the drop sides may be challenging to find separately too. The manufacturers may not be keen on selling that stuff without knowing that it is being properly installed. You could strip the hardware off of something from a used kid's furniture store.

For what it's worth, the "standard" rectangular crib mattress size is 27 1/2" x 52" The mattress alone will cost you upwards of 1/2 to 2/3 the price of a whole crib.

Kris

[Jeff Heil]

Before you build a round crib, make sure you can find crib sheets and a mattress. We looked at round cribs and found the linens are limited. We are due in May and elected to buy the crib and I am building a dresser with a removable top for a changing table that the little one can use for years. I toyed with building the crib and finally decided the limited time it would be better used on a bookcase and dresser. All the safety implications of a crib made it more sensible to purchase it. Plus the wife felt a Leigh D4 jig was essential to the construction of the casework and I told her how smart she was and headed to the local men's woodworking toystore. :)

[Pete Harbin]

Congrats Eric!

Good luck with the crib. With good plans and lots of advice from folks here you should be able to do well.

Pete