Craftsman Bed

Wow, that is a good looking bed. Looks like “the guys” are happy with it, too.

-- Maplewood, MN

Beautiful job!

I hope the real owners don’t mind sharing with you and your wife.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Absoluetly the most beautiful dog bed I’ve ever seen! – nice work, that’s how you convince the wife you need more tools!

-- The Gnarly Wood Shoppe

Amazing display of craftsmanship… and patience. Did you count those spindles? Very nice job.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://www.japanese-woodworking-tools.com/

Great looking bed and it seems that the royal court of the house approves as well, aren’t dogs a joy.

-- Hope Never fails

Nice. Very Nice. I’m days away from starting my daughter’s bed…any suggestions? Things I should avoid, include, etc?

-- Do what you love, the money will follow --Marsha Sinetar

Very nice addition and it appears to be occupied by a few happy squatters already.

-- Grant...."GO BUCKEYES"

Excellent bed!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I like it! after building one similar, I know how much work it is to do all those spindles!!! It looks awsome!

-- Shane, Askov, Minnesota

Great looking bed!

I’m betting those spindles took a very long time to fit them all.

-- Still learning everything

Beautiful bed.

-- Andy Stark

Very nice job JL.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

I have the plans from the same magazine. My daughter wants me to build it for her so Iam saving up for the White Oak. I only hope mine turns out ok you set the mark quite high. Good Job.

-- Billp

Job well done! I would like to make a bed like that for my daughter.

-- Joe Heskett---Illinois

Very nice job. Any guess on how long this project took you to complete?

-- Something that goes unnoticed will never be remembered.

That is a really good sturdy looking bed. Well done.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Excellent bed! We’re owned by one of those Chocolate Labs too but our’s hasn’t ruled our bed yet. He does however commandeer my Lazyboy recliner when we’re away. Leaves the armrest all slobbery, ya know?

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. To answer some of your questions:

1. There are 46 spindles in all that I mortised out with a 3/8” mortising bit in my drill press. I had to drill 8 holes per spindle x 46 = 368 holes and then clean and pare each mortise = 92. So yeah i took some patience.

2. I only woodwork as a hobby so I might spend 8 hours in the shop in an average week and this bed took me I’d say 4 to 5 months to build on and off. I need to start tracking my project time better in case I ever start selling some of my work.

3. Suggestions. Hmmm a. For the stretchers (~6 1/2” wide) that run the width of the headboard and footboard I made one big tenon using my router and a jig. Though nothing has happened yet, I’m still a bit worried that I get a crack in the middle of the stretchers since this is a pretty wide piece to glue in solidly to the long grain of the legs. If I were to do it again I’d probably break that down into 2 tenons and glue the top one only and then peg the bottom using a vertically long slotted hole with no glue. b. In order to use wood efficiently for all the spindles, I’d save some of the offcuts from previous projects / pieces and rip them to size for the spindles. I didn’t really consider colour matching too much because I figured the stain woul blend the colour differences anyway. The problem that arose though was than since I was using plainsawn wood, when you rip a bunch of strips off of it you get a mix of flatsawn, riftsawn and quartersawn pieces which looks a bit hodgepodge after you get them installed. If I were to do it again I’d likely spend a couple of extra bucks to get all quartersawn wood or be more selective about where I was cutting the spindles from so that they match better. c. make sure you finish the spindles before assembling the bed. This makes life much easier and I actually had the foresight to do this on this project. d. I used biscuits to aling the corbels on the legs and then just face glued them to the legs. Strength wise I beleive that this is more than adequate because of the long grain to long grain glue up plus these this aren’t structural, purely decorative. That being said, If I were to step up my game a bit I may have tried to do a sliding dovetail if for no other reason than to add that technique to my repertoire. e. If anyone is serious about building this bed in king sized, I’ve got some Autocad plans I drew up for it that you’re welcome to have. I take no responsibility for any errors or omissions in the plans though because they were meant simply as a working drawing for me to work out some joinery/geometry.

Very nice bed.

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

I’ll take those plans. Very well made bed. I think I have the plans somewhere in an old Wood Mag. but they are not King size. I’ll put my address in your message box and be glad to pay postage. mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Beautiful and Fantastic. Looks like the kids like it too.

-- Adrian ..... The 11th Commandment...."Thou Shalt Not Buy A Wobble Dado"

a job well done. Very very nice

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I love there plans. Get the Mag. all issues have the plans they sell on line.

-- Just another day in paradise.