Stickley 693B - Queen Bed - SketchUp

[Mike Wills]

Morning Everyone;

Drafted my take on a Stickley 693B - Queen Size Bed.

Plan to make the bed out of Ash to match an existing bed suite.

Feedback is welcome.

Attached are the Headboard and Footboard plans. Will be joined by 1.25"x6.5" rails attached with bed bolts.

My only concern are the upright legs. Currently drafted at 2 inch square.

Thanks,
Mike

[Pat Barry]

Hey Mike, Kind of surprised that no comments on this so far but I'll tell you what I think. Overall I like the concept and actually have interest in building something similar. I'm thinking though that it needs to be beefed up a bit, especially the headboard and posts. I would want the crestboard to be more like 8 inches high and 1 1/2 inches thick. I would go with posts approx 3 inches square. I assume the slats are approx 3/4 inch thick, I don't think they need to be 1 1/4 thick. The bottom rail I would also increase in size, probably to a similar 8 inches by 1 1/2 thick. Have you looked at many beds in furniture stores to compare dimensions? Keep refining it Mike, good design takes many iterations. Hope my feedback is useful.

[Hans Braul]

Definitely needs beefier posts, and the rails should be 8" to give a really solid support with no deflection.

Regards
Hans

[Mike Wills]

Thanks for the feedback Fellas...

I have a local Stickley Retailer in town and kind of modeling this after this bed:

http://stickley.com/OurProducts_Deta...complex&finish=

and this bed:

http://stickley.com/OurProducts_Deta...complex&finish=

As in most of Stickley's furniture the top (crestboard) is usually smaller than the bottom board. So trying to mimick that..

Saw a very similar bed in Ohio Amish Country and it was similar but the stock was much thinner than what I am planning on using.

Sorry I couldn't load the sketchup files, for some reason it won't let me...

[Pat Barry]

Mike,
I see what you are driving at. If you can get first hand dimensions off the real thing for post and rail sizes then I would say you should be fine. Then its just a matter of getting a design that you like. I like the spacing of the slats on the stickley pieces and I can see the posts are around 2 1/4". I personally think the amish stuff is overrated (have you seen their electric fireplace?).

[Kent A Bathurst]

FWIW - There is a Stickley bed in Robert Lang's More Drawings for Craftsman Furniture. His books are an inexpensive way to get good resources, if you are interested.

On that bed - couple details for you:
1] Post are 3-3/4" x 3-3/4"
2] Bottom rails 4-7/8"; Top rails 5-3/8"
3} the slats are 4-11/16" wide, with a 1" gap between them.

This, of course is only one example of an A+C bed.

I have made several authentic reproductions of Stickley + Ellis pieces [using Mr Lang's books and/or his full-size plans]. But, I have made more pieces by studying similar things in those books, and information from other resources, and them making them with my own design. The general themes are consistent with the period, of course, but I design them kinda how it seems to me I'd like them to look. I like to delude myself that they look the way Stickley and Ellis would have made them, had they only had the foresight to ask me first.


Moral of the story - You can make authentic repros, if that is what you want to do. Or, you can figure out what looks good to you, and tee it up.

[Mike Wills]

Thanks Everyone... Think I need to take a few more swipes at this before the build begins..

[Charlie Barnes]

I agree on the comments regarding larger legs. I've built a couple of beds that are similar to this and I like the look of a larger "offset" between the legs and the thickness of the cross pieces (maybe about 1/4" on each side). But as others have said, make it look good to you.

Charlie

[dave martini]

Mike,
I've played around with building a bed like this as well. Sketchup drawing attached has 2-1/4" Sq. legs, foot board legs 33" tall, headboard legs 50".
Rails are 6" X 7/8", slats are 5/8" X 3-3/8".
I tried to model it after a similar bed in the stickley catalog.
Be glad to send you the sketchup file if you'd like.
Hope this helps.