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Thread: Planning Ahead for Child's Bed Build

  1. #1

    Planning Ahead for Child's Bed Build

    I'm currently building a bed for my daughter which will feature 3/8" thick vertical ship lap that will sit in a groove in the headboard and footboard. I'm resawing this from 4/4 stock. I always like to plan an "escape route" or alternative should some problem arise. My concern is that as twist and cupping is worked out of the 4/4 stock, then resawed, and additional twist/bow/cupping is worked out of that as needed, I'm trying to decide on a plan should those panels come out a little thin. Of course, I don't want these panels to be very loose.

    The first fix that comes to mind is gluing in very thin shims as needed into the groove. I'm wondering if there is a more traditional, elegant, or better way that I'm not thinking of to better secure a slightly loose floating panel. I know there's those tiny rubber or plastic balls that exist that can be placed in the grooves of shaker style doors to prevent the panels from rattling, but I don't believe that would work in this application.

    Thanks for any help,
    Brandon
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  2. #2
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    You could make the entire groove narrower than the thinner boards, and form the ends of all the boards into tenons which fit this narrower groove.

  3. #3
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    Or you could spend a few more bucks, and give up on cutting 4/4 stock perfectly in half. That’s what I’d do. Re-sawing 4/4 into two straight unwarped pieceswill be challenging at best. With additional thickness, i’d use tongue-and-groove instead of ship lap. It won’t open up if somebody presses hard on it.

  4. #4
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    I would make the ship lap panels first and then cut the groove to fit the final dimensions of the panel pieces.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
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  5. #5
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    Do all of the above.

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