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Thread: First serious project -- bed frame

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Posts
    210

    First serious project -- bed frame

    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.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    210
    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.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    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!
    Attached Images Attached Images

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Rural, West Central Minn
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    218
    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???

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Forest Lake MN
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    340
    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.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    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
    David

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    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

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Princeton, NJ
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    Great project Steven!
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  9. #9
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    Mar 2006
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    Austin Texas
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    Please tell us about your planes.
    David

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    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

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    N. Idaho
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    1,621
    +1 to what Mike said. Great project and looking forward to seeing more. Thanks for sharing.
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Clarks Summit PA
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    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

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    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.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Steven Mikes; 01-19-2018 at 12:44 AM.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    Thanks Steve. The ECE rebate plane has been interesting to me for a while now. How is it on cross grain work?
    David

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    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.

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