My latest project

[mreza Salav]

Hi everybody,

I'm fairly new here and thought I'd share my latest project with you.
This is a queen size bed made out of Walnut with Maple inlays.
It was the most challenging project I have ever done since I started woodworking (2.5 years ago). The general design I had in mind was to make a bed with fluted posts that would catch the eye at first sight.
Then I added several other ingredients to the design, such as the finials as well as the inlays and the curved cap and molding on the tops of the footboard and headboard. The posts were not as challenging as I thought, even though I am fairly new into turning. Most of the time of building the posts was spent on building the jigs for the flutes and reeds.
The most time consuming part overall was building the curved cap on the tops and the curved molding below them. All of them are done by bent lamination and then routed on the router table.
Almost all the pieces (including rails/stiles) are attached using traditional mortise and tenon or floating tenon. Everything with the woodworking part went pretty well and I am quite happy with that.
I did many parts using hand tools. For example, the miter cuts at the center of the cap and molding on the top of the footboard; there was absolutely no room for any error and I couldn't trust power tools after spending days on preparing those two pieces.
The finish is boiled linseed oil, followed by two coats of Shellac, and then brushed on water-based poly.
The posts are made out of lamination of two 8/4 boards and the finished size is about 3+3/4".The inlays are 1/4" wide out of Maple. The measurements are 88.5"x65.5" which houses a platform of size 80"x60" for the mattress. The headboard posts are 60" high and the foot board posts are 40".

I have taken pictures of construction as well which I can post if you are interested.

8757587576
8757787578
87579

[mreza Salav]

And here is in its place
87580

[Glenn Clabo]

Wow...Great job! And of course we want construction pictures. :D

[Jim Becker]

Wow...wonderful work!

[Brent Ring]

Wow! That is beautiful! If you have construction pictures and plans, and would be willing to share, I am sure we would all appreciate that. Beautiful work!

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the Creek. Nice to see another woodworker from Edmonton on the site.

Great job on the bed. It looks fantastic.....

[John Thompson]

Excellent job on detail.. detail.. detail mreza. I often get the feeling that many don't realize the countless hours spent on a piece as the one you did just on detail alone. Looks very good.

I have been butchering wood for 36 years and have yet to tackle inlay. Some of that may have to do with keeping my designs simple and functional without much ornamentation, but someday I want to try it just for the challenge.

Again... nicely done....

Sarge..

[Dave MacArthur]

Really nice work, I like the inlay a lot!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks everybody for the kind words. It sure took countless number of hours to build it. Here are some pictures taken while building it. Pictures 2 and 3 show the jig for reeding/fluting and the indexing mechanism for the lathe.

8762587626
8762787628
87629

[Roger Warford]

Wow. So you mastered basic woodworking skills, turning, bent laminations, and finishing in 2.5 years? That's pretty amazing. Very nice work.

Ooops. Left out inlay, joinery, .... !

[mreza Salav]

and more progress pictures.

876308763187632
8763387634

[Bill Wyko]

You have talents way beyond your experience. That is one beautiful headboard and footboard. A+++

[Khalid Khattak]

very good job done:) Nice designs on bed leg...I am going to make rotary 4th axis for my home built CNC machine...(I cant do the work like u:(...)

[Dewey Torres]

Great project... I especially like the INLAY!
Dewey

[Jim Solomon]

Mreza,
A nicely accomplished project. I liked all aspects of it, especially the use of your jigs. I sometimes think that jigs are as important as the tools we use to construct them with. I look forward to see other projects from you. Well done!
Jim

[Raymond Fries]

Looks like someting you might find at an Ethan Allen.

That is a beautiful bed and it sure catches the eye.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Beautiful work, Mreza.

I didn't know Canada had a king, :confused: -- because it's obviously built for royalty.

[Adam Cavaliere]

Very inspiring! You have to be proud everytime you see / sleep on it!

When did you start / finish it?

[mreza Salav]

Sorry, I don't have a plan (as was asked). I had nothing more than some rough sketch by hand and a few calculations and went from there.

I started the project late last summer. The woodworking part was finished just before the new year. Then I was away for more than a month and finished it late Feb. Yes, I am really happy. Every time I walk to the bedroom and look at it I feel good :) Most friends who knew I was up to something for months come for a visit to the bedroom.

[Duncan Potter]

Outstanding. Takes guts patience and talent to tackle a job like this. My hat is off to you, sir!

[Norman Pyles]

...:cool::cool::cool:.....

[mreza Salav]

Thanks to everybody for their comments.

[Johnny Kleso]

Beautiful,

Love how nice the finish came out with all that detail..

[Graham Skinner]

Fantastic and very well done.

Nothing else I can say realy.

Best Regards, Graham.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Graham. I liked your signature a lot :)

[Barry Bruner]

That is one fine looking bed, you are one fine woodworker. BARRY BRUNER

[John Dorough]

Mreza,

Incredible. An heirloom to be fought over. If you have more than one child, you better get busy on making one to pass on to each, otherwise you risk war within the family.

Congrats on a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

John

[alex grams]

An incredible piece to be sure. Do you have any close-up pics of the footboard top center? You did a raised panel rail-n-stile, but I am interested in how you did the smooth rounded corners with the rail-n-stile.

Also, the bent laminate pieces are great. Did you do a vacuum press on it? No air gaps in the glue up to mess up routing?

Also, i see you book-matched the raised panels (and did a great job matching grain on them). Did you just get some 6/4 or 8/4 and resaw it in half to get the book-match?

A piece to definitely be proud of.

[mreza Salav]

An incredible piece to be sure. Do you have any close-up pics of the footboard top center? You did a raised panel rail-n-stile, but I am interested in how you did the smooth rounded corners with the rail-n-stile.


Here are a couple of pictures of the center of the footboard. I had taken the first one earlier (with natural lighting) and took the second one tonight; I know, it's terrible because of not enough natural light and my point-and-shoot camera. But that's the best I could get right now. I hope they help.

8856388564




Also, the bent laminate pieces are great. Did you do a vacuum press on it? No air gaps in the glue up to mess up routing?
No vacuum, just male/female forms and lot's of clamping. There was no gaps at all when routing.



Also, i see you book-matched the raised panels (and did a great job matching grain on them). Did you just get some 6/4 or 8/4 and resaw it in half to get the book-match?
Careful eyes :) each panel is 22" wide. I resaw an 8", 8/4 thick board and used three sections for each panel.



A piece to definitely be proud of.Thanks.

[alex grams]

Ahh,the top piece of the T you just mitered the inside corners it looks like.

With such unique pieces that had a lot of time invested before you mitered them I would have been incredibly nervous to cut into them for fear of messing the angle up, but they look like they fit together perfectly.

[mreza Salav]

Ahh,the top piece of the T you just mitered the inside corners it looks like.

With such unique pieces that had a lot of time invested before you mitered them I would have been incredibly nervous to cut into them for fear of messing the angle up, but they look like they fit together perfectly.


That was my worst fear too. It had taken days to make the tops (broken a piece in the form, broken another one on the router table). So I hand cut the miter a little bit larger (note that the left and right end must also fit perfectly into the left and right posts, and then there was the curve of the top to be aligned with the top rail). Then I fine tuned it by hand.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

That looks fantastic. Very difficult work with some very clever solutions.

Well done!
-Jeff :)