Swinging Crib / Cradle - WIP with Pics

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TrimTheKing

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Location
Grappenhall (Nr Warrington), Cheshire
Evening all

I've finally got round to finishing my second complete project this evening, a swinging crib/cradle for my impending firstborn.

When we found out we were expecting I had a real urge to make something for the Bambino, that was of some use and could be a family heirloom (wishful thinking...?), so after some judicious Googling I decided on a swinging crib that I found plans for, so I bought the plans and modified them with some changes of my own, and here's the pics and story...

Decided on making it in ABW, so two 10'x11"x2" boards were purchased from Irmass in Salford and having worked out the lengths I would need I got them to x-cut them in half for me to make it easier to get in the car :D

Then got them on the bench and cut and planed up the first couple of pieces
1Boards.jpg


Cut all the pieces out to correct width, slightly over length and 1/8" over thickness and put them all in stick in the back bedroom for 6 weeks....

...6 weeks later and here's an end panel laid out on the bench to match the grain for the best look (dark bits are where I wiped with white spirit to get a better look at the grain).
2Endsized.jpg


Final thicknessing down of end panel parts
3Thicknessing.jpg


Cutting the basket slats to length after sizing...
4Slatstolength.jpg


Cutting out the feet...
5Cuttingfeet.jpg


My Heath Robinson attempt at a dowelling jig...
6Doweljig.jpg


Legs clamped up, the dowelling jig worked :D...
7Legsinclamps.jpg


An end panel grain matched and marked up for biscuits...
8Endpanelmarkedup.jpg


How to make your own router table. :lol: Used this setup for cutting the slots/dadoes/trenches/whatever in the rails to take the slats...
9Routertable.jpg


Dry fit of a slat in rail...
10Slotsinrails.jpg


Biscuiting up the end panels then sticking in the clamps...
11Biscuiting.jpg


12Panelinclamps.jpg



Gluing up the basket sides...
13Gluingbasket.jpg



Finished basket side waiting to go in the clamps...
14Spacers.jpg



I cut the end panel out 1/8th" outside the lines the used a bearing guided cutter in the router to trace around a plywood pattern. Spent quite a while on the pattern to ensure that I didn't pineapple up the ABW...
15Shapingendpanel.jpg



The legs got the same pattern treatment, but this time I had cut too close to the lines :oops: so I had to do some fettling with block plane and files to tidy them up...
16Legs.jpg



Next I clamped the basket sides between the end panels to drill the dowels. I had planned to do through wedged tenons on the rails but haste and lack of concentration meant that I cut the rails to the shoulder length and forgot the tenons :roll: SWIMBO can be seen overseeing proceedings...
17Clampeddowels.jpg



Here's the dowels drilled through the end panels and into the rails...
18Dowels.jpg



Basket dry fit with all dowels in place...
19Dryfitwithdowels.jpg



Basket sides being sanded...
20Basketbeforeoil.jpg



Basket side with first coat of Chestnut Food Safe Finish oil...
21Basketafteroil.jpg



Legs and end panels with first coat of oil...
22Legsandendswithoil.jpg



Now I needed something to cover up them pesky dowel holes. I tried plugs but couldn't match the grain perfectly so went with these. Cut from square stock with profile on the end and inset by 3mm, You can see that all arrises have been eased with a small chamfer which I think gives it a nice look and feel...
23Dowelcovers.jpg



Here's the end panels, basket sides and cross brace after 3 coats of oil and 2 coats of Liberon Black Bison clear paste wax...
24Oiledparts.jpg



Here it is with the tee nut in place for the pivot and dry fit while measuring for the base panel...
25Waitingforbase.jpg



Here's the base panel (6mm ply) marked up and having vent holes drilled. This was then sanded and given a coat of sanding sealer...
26Basemarked.jpg



Basket all glued up with base fitted, pivot in place and legs clamped up, with spacer, to measure the exact length needed for the cross brace. SWIMBO came in at the end of the process to see how I was getting along and to offer any help. She's now 7 months pregnant so can't do any heavy stuff but she helped me balance stuff and screw in the pivot screws etc. At the end she then claimed that she can now say that she made it :D
27Fittingbrace.jpg



Next the brace was clamped in place to make sure it didn't splay at the top, all looking good so far...
28Braceinclamps.jpg



And here's a few shots of it in the living room, with a 6-9 months babygrow to check for size :D
29Final.jpg

30Final.jpg

31Final.jpg



So, hope you like it and would love to hear any thoughts. Love to hear what you might change to, and thanks for looking. Hopefully the little one will get more than a couple of weeks use out of it :D


Cheers

Mark
 
Excellent Mark - I really like that. ABW is a beautiful wood, and you seem to hav avoided sapwood, which can be a real problem with ABW.

Bet SWMBO was well chuffed with you handywork.

Cheers

Karl
 
WoW that looks great you sure thats only your second ever project 8)

Well done

Harry
 
Lovely project ,
noticed you did not put some ply spacers between you work and the cramps :? but cant see any damage :p

Is the base made out of marine ply :lol: , " Waterproof :lol: "

Hope all goes well for yourself and SHMBO :wink:
 
Mark

Thats a beautiful piece of work you should be proud of it. It will certainly be an airloom.

I did see some subtle gloats there, well done.
 
This is a lovely piece, Mark, very well done! :D Nice walnut, too, I normally find I can't avoid sapwood - so, I generally try and avoid the stuff altogether! :shock: :wink:

How is the base fitted - rebate? Groove?
 
Very nice work. You're a natural.

Good luck with the impending arrival.
 
Hi All

Thanks for looking, and for all the comments. It really is gratifying to finish something and get to show it off to an encouraging audience.

karl":u5ha364o said:
Excellent Mark - I really like that. ABW is a beautiful wood, and you seem to have avoided sapwood, which can be a real problem with ABW.
Hi Karl, yep the ABW really is a great wood and I was so happy with the result of applying the finish, the grain just burst out of nowhere.

The boards I got were from a shipment of '10 or wider' as the guy called it (10" or wider) which were new in and I managed to, with reluctant help from the blokes in the sheds, to shave some endgrain to get a feel for how much sapwood was there and managed to do really well. There was a sliver along both edges of one face of each board, but the furthest it went in to the board 1", so a tiny amount of wastage.

Blister":u5ha364o said:
noticed you did not put some ply spacers between you work and the cramps Confused but cant see any damage Razz

Is the base made out of marine ply Laughing , " Waterproof Laughing "
The heads of the cramps are painted and quite 'soft' if that's the right word, so I think I was lucky, but next time I hopefully won't forget :roll:

Ooooh, never thought of the wetness issue!!! It is normal ply but with a good coating of sanding sealer so will just need to keep an eye on it for...um.....puddles :lol:

Waka":u5ha364o said:
I did see some subtle gloats there, well done.
Gloats? Me? Never! they are fully utilised, working tools :wink:

OPJ":u5ha364o said:
How is the base fitted - rebate? Groove?
Hi Olly. Yep, this is the one I forgot to add. There is a 1/4" x 1/4" groove along the inside of each rail (board is loose fit with 1/8" clearance for shrinkage across end panels) with a 3/8" square cleat undeneath each end of the board screwed into the end panel.

Even without the cleats I could push down on it with all my strength and only just bent it, so I don't know that the cleats are needed. But I can just imagine the conversation if we came in the nursery to find baby on the floor because the panel gave way :shock: :shock:

Cheers

Mark
 
Well done, there are cribs in my extened family that 12 babies in one generation and two in the next have used; so they can become heirlooms!
 
Fantastic - I need to make one of these for February and have been putting it off whilst pottering around the workshop looking busy whenever Mrs H appears. Do you still have the link to the plans as it would save me loads of time trawling?
 
Very very nice, Mark.

Between you and me I don't think Irmass have ever sold so much walnut! Glad you managed to get such nice timber. I was there on Thursday and they've just had a pack of 'veneer grade' ABW in. It's stunning!

Good luck on the imminant arrival.

Dan
 
Dan Tovey":13opplr9 said:
Very very nice, Mark.

Between you and me I don't think Irmass have ever sold so much walnut! Glad you managed to get such nice timber. I was there on Thursday and they've just had a pack of 'veneer grade' ABW in. It's stunning!

Good luck on the imminant arrival.

Dan
Cheers Dan

I have really taken a shine to this timber after this project. Might have to nip down and have a look at the good stuff, just for future use.

Cheers

Mark
 
I'm really dragging this one out of the vault! :p . Are you still about TrimTheKing?! I wouldnt mind picking your mind with regard to the crib you made, I'm thinking of making one myself for my soon to arrive niece or nephew (its a good excuse to make something nice for a portfolio, a christening present as well as a wedding gift for my brother who's getting married in June! :lol: have it all planned!).

I'm designing my own one but would just like to get some of the critical dimensions off you.
 
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