How would I build this bed?

[JWood]

Hi all,

I've decided to build a new bed. The design I like can be seen here:
http://www.indigofurniture.co.uk/bedroom-furniture/wooden-beds/plank-wooden-bed

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on the best way to join the side and end pieces to the posts to a) get the best strength and B) so there are no bolts etc visible from the outside of the frame.

I realise this is probably a very simple project but I thought I'd ask the question so I don't mess it up!

Cheers
Jason

 

[JWood]

I just noticed the URL I included has been censored. I'll try and include the image instead below:

 

[WellsWood]

Hi Jason, welcome to the forum.

Your pictures and links will appear after a couple more posts when the spam trap wears off.

Meanwhile, I think you're looking for something like this

 

[jasonB]

You need a few more posts before you can post links

This is the bed

You could use traditional mortice and tennon joints for the head and foot but they will have serious cross grain issues, needs a bit more thought.

The side rails are usually done in such a way that the bed can be taken apart, have a look at some bed fittings here

Jason

 

[JWood]

Cheers for the reply Mark.

I was hoping to be able to build the bed without using any metal brackets, but do you think using such brackets is the best way to go?

I suppose I need to consider the practicalities of being able to easily disassemble the bed in case it ever needs to be moved.

Carrying a superking bed down the stairs would be a trifle tricky I think!

 

[WellsWood]

Hmm... well you could use bed bolts as an alternative to a bracket, combined with a mortice and tennon (or a couple of big dowels) to withstand the vertical forces, but you said you didn't want anything showing fom the outside. Can't think of a "no hardware" solution that will still allow dismantling other than a through wedged tennon, and this will change the look somewhat, make the bed longer and give you something to bark your shins on :wink:

How's life in Stourbridge these days? I grew up there in the 60/70's spending a few tortured years at King Edwards when it was an all boys grammar.

 

[JWood]

OK, I guess I'll use brackets then. I'll probably make recesses in the posts so the side pieces can sit inside, then I'll add the brackets.

We live just by the old quarter in a Victorian terrace - I want to give it a rustic feel, hence I intend to lay some distressed oak flooring and want to build some old looking furniture such as this bed.

I quite enjoy Stourbridge. I'm not originally from there (but not far away - Tividale) I don't think the High street has changed much over the years. I guess I can't comment too much since I wasn't born until '76.

King Edwards still has a good reputation I believe. My girlfriends teaches at Old Swinford Hospital school. I bet the time there for some of the boys is a bit torturesome!

It's good to see some people from the Black Country do leave the nest!

 

[WellsWood]

......... I wasn't born until '76.

Pah! .... another youngster :lol:

I was out of there before the the ink was dry on my O-levels, there's still a part of me that hankers after moving back. Trouble is I'm not sure I could handle that accent again after 20 odd years waiting for people to stop taking the p!ss - they can be cruel dahn sahff.

 

[mickthetree]

Hey Jason

Use bolts right through the legs but recess the heads and fill the holes with some dowel or off cut to match the grain.

If / when you need to take it apart you will be able to see (on close inspection) where the bolts are located and drill out the plugs.

Does anyone know where you can source some bolts with cast iron heads? or similar rustic style?

Good luck with the project.

 

[big soft moose]

or use normal tenons secured with 3" screws through them from the inside (two per tenon) - the screw heads would not be visible except on close inspection as they would esentially be under the bed, but could be removed to allow the bed to be dismasntled if necessary

 

[TonyF]

I was working through the same logic a month or so back (for a bed I have make later in the year).

From the reviews and suggestions I've read elsewhere (and what I've agreed with the "customer" (my daughter, now back at work in the UK ...)), the bed-bolt principle is the way to go, but:

(1) plan to mount the cross-dowel in the leg, not the rail. The hole for the dowel can be drilled from the inside of the leg
(2) the bolt slides in through a recess from inside the rail
(3) the fittings sold as "bed bolts" are, to a conservative, over-engineering kind of guy like me, too light a gauge ... I managed to find some much larger cross-dowels on a UK website (either 3/4 or 1" od as I recall), but I figured on using a larger diameter bolt with a hex-socket head and make suitable metal dowels myself.
(4) on the other hand, the posts and rails on the bed you showed looked heavier than those I intended to use (mine will be ex RS 4x4 legs and, yet to be finalized, ex 6x2 rails) ... the photograph suggests you have greater proportions, so you may be able to use pairs of the M8 bolts?

If I can find the links I think I squirrelled away for later reference on how to do the above ... I'll post them.

Will be glad to read of your progress ... so I can learn from your experience!

 

[TonyF]

You might like to look at
This source for good sized cross dowells:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axmi ... 364429.htm

And this thread on the US' Woodnet forum, where I was asking a similar question about bed construction:

http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthread ... ost4734703

The penny dropped for me with the picture another member posted showing a bed bolt running through the centre of a short tenon.

And, if you have access to a copy in your local library, or (like me) you'd prefer to have your own copy, a Taunton book entitled "Beds", by Jeff Miller, ISBN-13 : 978-1-56158-254-9. I paid US$16.47 at Amazon ... I'd imagine Amazon UK would stock it.

There are two very handy pages entitled "Bed Bolt Joints", pages 12 and 13.

What I intend to do is a version of what Miller describes as a "hidden bolt joint" ... except I'm going to use the Axminster barrel nuts in place of the regular hex nuts. I have not yet decided - and won't until I make a practice joint or two - whether to use the stubby tenon approach or the a wooden dowel approach shown by Miller.

You may PM me if you wish.
Cheers
Tony