Baby Crib

This is a crib I built for my second-born a number of years ago. It was one of my first projects and I was in way over my head. My shop was the carport on the side of our house. (Think cold Utah winter) I had a benchtop table saw, a belt sander, a router, a drill, and big ideas. My wife had seen a tool called a “router crafter” in Sears and we dreamed up this idea for a crib with all the spirals etc.

We ordered the hardware from a crib company and then went and picked out some maple boards. It was quite the undertaking for me, the novice woodworker! I didn’t think I would ever get done cutting the spirals on the slats! Each groove took multiple passes. And each pass had multiple ways of being screwed up, I unhappily discovered. Once I got everything cut, then I had to slog through the hours of hand-sanding all the grooves and spirals.

I had hoped to put a nice finish on it that would highlight the grain etc. But, I didn’t have much skill in that area and the grain ended up being a bit muddied by the stain which has always bothered me ever since. Maybe some day I’ll refinish it….....?

At any rate, it has worked great as a crib for 5 of my six kids! Hopefully it will keep holding up well and I’ll pass it along to some Grandkids someday. Maybe I can get them to refinish it…...

Thanks for looking!

-- Steve, Southern Oregon. So many tools, so little time....