Woodsmith Classic Cherry Bed Experiences?

[Ben Martin]

I have told the wife that I will make her a bed and from all the plans I have found and research that I have done, I like the Woodsmith Classic Cherry Bed. Has anybody made this bed and would like to give me some helpful insight? Is the best way to build it to buy the plans or try to find a back issue of the magazine? I will be making a road trip up to WI to purchase the lumber and that will open up a whole new set of questions since I have never bought lumber before... Thanks for any help in advance.

[Dave Lehnert]

I made that bed about 8 or 10 years ago. Everything went well. The only advice I would give is with the Jig to cut the dado for the slats with a router. After cutting a few the Jig rails started to get some slop in them. Made the last dodo's a little wide. Just make the jig a little strong with more glue and screws.
If you have any questions feel free to ask or PM me. Glad to help.

[Charlie Schultz]

I made one last year (but used oak). I just used the magazine plans, and since I had a decent mortiser, I mortised all the slats instead of doing the router thing. Do make sure you measure your mattress/boxspring too.

[David Tiell]

I made one a number of years ago, but went a different route on the slat mortises. Instead, I cut one dado the length of the piece, then glued spacers in between the slats. It saved a LOT of time and effort, and only someone who knows what they are looking at could ever tell.

Funny story on that bed though, just as an aside. I modified my plans slightly and made it more Mission style, out of oak. I put three coats of stain on the whole thing before putting a finish on. During the finishing process, I noticed that I missed the same edge of ONE slat while staining with ALL THREE COATS!:eek: Don't ask me how. I left it for "character". To this day, one slat on that bed has no stain on one edge.:(

[Mike Circo]

I posted this elsewhere a few years ago right after I finished the bed. Still my most favorite project and most rewarding. Enjoy...

Things I learned while making the Cherry Bed.

Following the plans, you will end up with a bed about 3" too wide for a standard Queen box spring. Mine ended up about 63"wide, the plans list their slats at 62 5/8". Every box spring I measured came out at 60 inches or less. In any case, what ends up is about 1½ inch gap at each side rail. I knew that this might happen (hearing similar statements on forums) but the task of rewriting the plans to shorten every component in the head and foot boards was too much to consider. Instead, I filled the gap on each side with a strip of wood to keep the boxspring from shifting around. The supposed reason for this extra width is to allow the bedspread to tuck behind the rail so as not to hide your nice side rails. However understand that you MAY have a large side gap and understand that the mattresses will rest on the slats and not on the side rail cleats. Just a heads up as to what to expect.

If you don't reconfigure to a narrower bed, you may see considerable flex in the slats when weight is put on the bed. I used six 3" slats made of poplar (the plans call for five 3½" slats). When someone is on the bed and moves around, the slats flex and bend somewhat. (due to the fact that the box spring is resting on the slats and not on the side cleat… see item above). I will be watching the performance of my poplar slats closely. I am considering replacing the current slats with plywood hoping it will be stiffer, or making a slat with a stiff backbone (ie. "T" shaped). (Note: after 6 years, no problems with the original design, and no changes made)

By the way. I decided on the narrower 3" slats because I could rip two from the 6½" and 7" wide poplar lumber I had. I had less waste this way and I liked the closer spacing of the slats. I felt it was better structurally. Besides I end up with an additional ½" of total slat width to support the bed! (do the math). The final slat related note is to be sure to round over the edges of the slats. Sharp edges may cut through the fabric on the underside of your box spring.

Make sure you have lots of material available for jigs, I ended up making six different jigs.
Let's see if I can remember… 1) the published jig for the headboard slats, 2) a taper jig for my bandsaw for the short leg-bottom tapers, 3) a jig for making the tenons on the long rail pieces with a router, 4) A table saw jig for making straight line cuts on the large rails (too big for my jointer), 5) A jig for making the post mortises using the plunge router, 6) a router dado jig (of sorts) to make dados in the side cleats to hold the slats in place ( I made a 1½" cleat with a 3/4" dado to tightly hold the end of the slats). With a tablesaw dado blade, you can skip this jig.

Speaking of jigs. I made the plan's "half mortise" jig a lot bigger. With a larger base it was easier to clamp the jig to the bench and slide the workpiece past it. Also gave me more options for additional hold downs and clamps to assure that the workpiece did not shift in the jig.

Another mortise-jig related item. I made a very accurate MDF block the exact dimensions of the space between the jig's fences. I used this during the attachment of the fences. This also guaranteed that the fences did not shift while being clamped or with wear. Mine did shift once, thus the idea of the block. I slip the block between the fences to assure there is no shifting of the fences before I rout. Also make a few “keys” to lock the two halves of the rail together while routing. I made a thin block to fit into the first slat to lock the two pieces in unison and still slide under the jig's fence. Later I inserted larger, tougher ones to assure no misalignment.

Have lots of extra lumber available. Those very long cherry pieces have a habit of moving around a lot when brought into the shop. I had one moment of panic when two of the headboard rails warped massively after routing the half mortises. It seems that exposing all that fresh wood caused a sudden moisture transfer. Fortunately I clamped them to my bench "wet" side out and they came back to flat. I did have to trash a couple of rails however, due to them developing twist over time.

This leads me to how to save wood. Plan for your headboard slats last. The two rails that were too twisted to use for that function were resawn into the ½" slats. Similarly other slats came from various shorts and offcuts collected during the project. I got 75% of my slats this way.

This is not a difficult project per se. It is just that all the pieces are so large! Big legs, long rails big deep mortises, etc. All pushed my tools, small shop space and skills to the limit. I just worked slowly and it all came together.

I used a set of hardware from VanDykes http://www.vandykes.com/product/02284211/ to attach the side rails. This set utilizes a wedge shaped design that has two nice features. First it continuously tightens itself as weight is applied to the bed. This assures no squeaks or loosening. Also they are easy and nearly foolproof to install. I got their jig and the installation took all of 20 minutes for all four corners. (I highly advise doing a test bed out of 2x4s and scrap to get a feel of how they work). They are surface mounted so no special mortises need to be cut. The rail pieces attached to the inside face and avoid the issue of screwing into the weaker end grain. I highly recommend these connectors. The bed is absolutely rock solid, no flex at all, even when tugging on the tall headboard. However, they came with 3/4 inch long square drive screws that I felt were too short. I got some longer screws from McFeelys to be sure they remained tight. Don't use drywall screws, they are too brittle for such a critical use.

Allow for some stock loss in sanding when making your head/foot board slats. When planing, test against your headboard mortises and look for a fit almost too tight to install the slat. Then do your finish sanding before installation of the slats and you will find that they fit snug and show no gaps between slat and mortise.

Skills you should know…
- How to square up a long 3" by 3" blank and not end up with a parallelogram (DAHIKT).
- How to true up an edge on a nearly 7’ long rail piece.
- How to remove twist from an 80" long 5/4 x 6" rail.
- How to hide knots and bad grain in large/expensive pieces otherwise too good to waste.

And the final thing to have is patience. A beautiful bed, rewarding to make, but don't rush. It is too much fun to hurry through. If you have any questions or require any emotional support in your endeavor, feel free to e-mail me.

Mike

[Dave Lehnert]

For slats in my bed I just used boards of any kind I had in the shop. Did not fool with cutting them to a uniform width.
I never did buy a new Queen mattress. I use my old double bed mattress in it I have about a 5" gap or so on each side and never a problem with with it shifting or the like. I sleep in that bed every night.
God! I need to go by a queen mattress but would rather spend my money on a bandsaw LOL!!!!

[Bill Fleming]

I am looking at building this bed as well and have the plans - I think they are worth having for clarity, etc. Concerning "a road trip to WI" - where are you planning to purchase the cherry? I live in WI and have found the best source of Cherry to be IA at the Woodworkers Store.

Good luck - Bill

[Ben Martin]

I am looking at building this bed as well and have the plans - I think they are worth having for clarity, etc. Concerning "a road trip to WI" - where are you planning to purchase the cherry? I live in WI and have found the best source of Cherry to be IA at the Woodworkers Store.

Good luck - Bill

Bill,

I have found a lumber mill in Spring Green called Upsome Lumber:

www.upsomelumber.com (http://www.upsomelumber.com)

and was planning on making a road trip out of it. This will be my first time buying lumber in large quantities and really have no clue what to look for, I have seen WoodWorks and the NYW where they go and look for lumber, but that is about it. Also, do you know about roughly how many bdft are required to build the bed?

PS. The only reason why I was planning on going to Upsome is because my wife wants to visit the Mustard Museum and I want to tour New Glarus Brewery.

[Mike Heidrick]

Which magazine issue was this in?

[Ben Martin]

Which magazine issue was this in?

Woodsmith Issue 108, not sure what year, etc. If you google "Woodsmith Classic Cherry Bed Plans" you will get a link to buy the plans.

[Bill Fleming]

Ben

Just a quick add up of the list of materials for a queen size bed say approx. 91 Bd Ft

I have had good luck with these folks for wood but they always seem short on good clear cherry suitable for a bed http://www.kmhardwoods.com

There is also a good place to get Cherry in the Davenport, IA area (just south - will send you name when I find it). And like I mentioned, the Woodsmith store in Des Moines had a great selection of Cherry last time I was there - so if you need a couple of nice piece for side rails, etc. that is an option.

Good luck - Bill

[Russ Massery]

Ben,
I made mine of oak also. I still have the router jig in my shop.Your welcome to it if you are interested. Also I have a copy on the magazine. I too have had good luck with Kettle Moraine Hardwoods. Though I buy from a guy up in Michigan now.

Russ