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6K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  ttocsmi 
#1 ·
Prologue

Welcome to the first blog entry for my Double Single Bed project. If you didn't pick up on the subtleness, I'll be making two single bed frames. One for each of the kids in the house, as surprise Christmas presents.

The spark for the project was an innocent comment from my wife, "The Jet table saw you wanted is on sale, Black Friday. I'll split the cost with you."

Ten days later it arrived.

Wood Packing materials Floor Automotive exterior Gas


The winter's been mild too, so what better time of the year to begin a project? I took half a day off from work, drove out to Armstrong Millworks and selected about 80 BF of 8/4 and 6/4 red oak. Forgot my checkbook, so after a quick trip to the bank (I was playa, temporarily) it was mine.

Banknote Money handling Currency Finger Money


Thankfully, the wood stayed in the back of my car & I made it home safely.

Wood Plank Wood stain Hardwood Composite material


Thanks for reading. More to follow…
 

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#2 ·
Big Pieces Into Small Pieces

Well, the SE Michigan weather continues to be more balmy than frozen, so work on the bed frames continues. I'm out of propane now, too.

This week I received the bed bolts from Horton Brass ($4.50 each) & placed an order for the box spring fasteners / bed irons ($2.25) and bed bolt covers ($1.85) from Baltimore Hardware.

I rough cut, jointed, & thickness planed the pieces for the posts, 2 x long and 2 x short for each bed, from 8/4 red oak. For the first 12 inches, ripping the boards on the new Jet saw was easy. Like butter!

"Wow, this saw is really nice!"

Then the board proceeded to wedge itself around the giant-ass riving knife assembly which came with the saw and was installed at the time.

"What the hell? This thing's a piece of crap." (Edit: Not really)

Stopped the saw. Applied wax to the knife, re-tried, no joy. Pondered a bit for a new solution. (Forcefully pushing a board through the saw with two hands didn't seem safe.) Knife thickness, about 0.10 inches. Blade thickness, about 0.10 inches. (Note to self: order tooth-shaped riving knife.) After some research, I now have a better understanding why this occurs.

Automotive tire Black Tread Synthetic rubber Wood


Cut up some wedges from scrap, tapered from 0.0625 to about 0.125 inches.

Rectangle Wood Flooring Floor Font


Removed the knife. Successfully ripped all boards, placing the wedges in the kerf every 12 inches or so. Of course, my old outfeed table is too high so my wedge inserting assistant doubled as a board catcher. Here are the posts, before and during glue-up.

Table Wood Floor Wood stain Rectangle


Wood Shelving Floor Flooring Hardwood


Each post is made up from two 3.5Ă—1.75 inch rails, glued together. This worked out great! Only in a couple small locations can you see the joint. I cut each board a little fat and used the planer to set the final thickness.

Ever wonder how many board feet of expensive wood ends up going back into the ground? I started calculating it in my head last night, but fell asleep first. Here's about half of my shavings. (See the snowblower? I've already used it once this year. Not ready to use it again. I've worked in the garage when it's 17F outside - not fun.)

Wood Flooring Metal Machine Soil


I've been mostly considerate of the neighbors, with all machines turned off by about 10 pm.

How many times has this happened to you (for me, it's about once or twice a project): You're doing something else, later in the day, reminiscing on your exquisite skill & craftsmanship, and then… "********************. I cut a F-ING board too short." This week, I cut the short rails about an inch short. Not an emergency, though, as my tenons will end up a bit shorter than anticipated. The box spring will still fit. (*&
@!!!

Later this week I'll have all the tenons & mortises cut & hopefully glue up the footboard end of the beds. After that, the sanding / finishing department (my wife) can begin work.
 

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#3 ·
The Propane Powered Air Filter

As expected, winter's balmy beginning has passed and lower temperatures have returned, requiring use of the mini-torpedo propane heater in the garage/wood shop. When I have time, the work pattern is: window cracked, heater full blast, heater off when warm, work until chilly again, open garage door, work a bit more, then come inside for fresh air/drinks/food.

Camera accessory Gas Font Cylinder Nickel


I've been thinking about overhead air filtration units lately, now that the door's been closed more often than open. I've seen the information from Solo Woodworker, Bill Pentz, and Oneida. All good information. But has there been a study on the feasibility of using a propane heater as an air cleaner? One where small wood particles are sucked in and incinerated, instead of clogging an expensive HEPA filter?

(I ask this only somewhat seriously, as breathing the tiny ash particles / combustion by-products can't be good for you either, and all that air swishing around in the garage carries plenty of un-incinerated wood particles.)

Either way, whenever running wood through the machines, I use a paper dust mask if the outside door isn't open. I almost bought an overhead dust filtration unit in December, but passed, as my "Click to Purchase" button on the Amazon page is getting worn out. It now reads "Cli l c lase". Very strange.

But, I digress.

My goals for this week were to (1) work on mortising and drilling the eight corner posts, (2) cutting and fitting the short rail tenons, and (3) dry-fit the short rails to the posts.

I marked with pencil where (and where not) the mortises and bed bolt counter-bores should go. It's like writing "yes" on the leg which will undergo surgery - mistakes have happened in the past. In this very garage. With wood. Below are before and after pictures.

Wood Wood stain Audio equipment Hardwood Wooden block


Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Plank


Each tenon is about two inches long, with mortises slightly deeper. For the short-side faces, I clamped the rail boards together, set a stop for the router, and used a spiral up-cut bit to cut four at a time. I cut the long side faces individually, using a home-made jig (sorry, no pic) which I slipped over the end of each board. A shoulder plane, chisels, and low-angle plane work GREAT for cleaning & final fit adjustments (this was so much easier than just using a rasp).

In retrospect, the tenons were much too long. I could have saved myself A LOT of time had I used a 1" rabbeting bit instead. These rail joints are NEVER coming apart!

The dry-fit went well, with only mild mallet encouragement. Here's a shot of the resulting mess. (There's a lot of extra stuff in the garage at this point; the more I worked, the more went back outside

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Workbench


Lessons learned:
- If using a router to cut tenons, save yourself some effort and make all shoulders the same depth.
- Always practice/fine tune on scrap boards first. Skipped due to time restraints. A few tenons were sloppy/loose, but still fit fine in the end.
 

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#4 ·
The Propane Powered Air Filter

As expected, winter's balmy beginning has passed and lower temperatures have returned, requiring use of the mini-torpedo propane heater in the garage/wood shop. When I have time, the work pattern is: window cracked, heater full blast, heater off when warm, work until chilly again, open garage door, work a bit more, then come inside for fresh air/drinks/food.

Camera accessory Gas Font Cylinder Nickel


I've been thinking about overhead air filtration units lately, now that the door's been closed more often than open. I've seen the information from Solo Woodworker, Bill Pentz, and Oneida. All good information. But has there been a study on the feasibility of using a propane heater as an air cleaner? One where small wood particles are sucked in and incinerated, instead of clogging an expensive HEPA filter?

(I ask this only somewhat seriously, as breathing the tiny ash particles / combustion by-products can't be good for you either, and all that air swishing around in the garage carries plenty of un-incinerated wood particles.)

Either way, whenever running wood through the machines, I use a paper dust mask if the outside door isn't open. I almost bought an overhead dust filtration unit in December, but passed, as my "Click to Purchase" button on the Amazon page is getting worn out. It now reads "Cli l c lase". Very strange.

But, I digress.

My goals for this week were to (1) work on mortising and drilling the eight corner posts, (2) cutting and fitting the short rail tenons, and (3) dry-fit the short rails to the posts.

I marked with pencil where (and where not) the mortises and bed bolt counter-bores should go. It's like writing "yes" on the leg which will undergo surgery - mistakes have happened in the past. In this very garage. With wood. Below are before and after pictures.

Wood Wood stain Audio equipment Hardwood Wooden block


Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Plank


Each tenon is about two inches long, with mortises slightly deeper. For the short-side faces, I clamped the rail boards together, set a stop for the router, and used a spiral up-cut bit to cut four at a time. I cut the long side faces individually, using a home-made jig (sorry, no pic) which I slipped over the end of each board. A shoulder plane, chisels, and low-angle plane work GREAT for cleaning & final fit adjustments (this was so much easier than just using a rasp).

In retrospect, the tenons were much too long. I could have saved myself A LOT of time had I used a 1" rabbeting bit instead. These rail joints are NEVER coming apart!

The dry-fit went well, with only mild mallet encouragement. Here's a shot of the resulting mess. (There's a lot of extra stuff in the garage at this point; the more I worked, the more went back outside

Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood Workbench


Lessons learned:
- If using a router to cut tenons, save yourself some effort and make all shoulders the same depth.
- Always practice/fine tune on scrap boards first. Skipped due to time restraints. A few tenons were sloppy/loose, but still fit fine in the end.
That's one nice thing I found when I built a bed - bed bolts can tighten up a sloppy fit quite well :)

Been over ten years now, bed still solid as a rock!
 

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#7 ·
Deep Mortises

Here's an outline drawing I did for one of the headboards.

Rectangle Parallel Font Slope Diagram


The post caps, curved top rail, & varying stile widths help break up the straight lines from my original design. Thanks to my wife and a few other LJ'ers for the ideas. (I'm definitely not a right-brainer.) The stiles fit into mortises on the top & bottom rails.

I didn't foresee any problems at the time. Do you?

I cut the top and bottom headboard rails to size, cut the bottom rail tenons, fitted them to the post mortises, and marked the curves. I ripped the stiles & sent them through the planer for final sizing. So far so good.

Wood Table Flooring Floor Rectangle


How to cut mortises for the stiles, though? Hmmm. Here's an idea: cut 2.5 inch deep mortises in top rail, cut curve with the bandsaw, clean up mortises, fit stiles, done. This was a GREAT idea, until I learned that the mortising machine clearance was only 4.5 inches.

Wood Gas Hardwood Door Shelving


FRACK. Now what? We came up with four options:

(1) Rip the top rail lengthwise, down the center, cut the deep mortises, & glue back together. Status: rejected; didn't want to spend the time to glue it back together & clean it up. Too much work.
(2) Cut curve on bandsaw first, then mark & drill mortises. Status: rejected; seemed overly challenging, end of rail still wouldn't fit under mortiser.
(3) Skip the curve and just use narrower rails. Stauts: rejected; didn't want to make the design any more bland.
(4) Drill out mortises with forstner bit, cut curve on bandsaw, then hand chisel to finish. After drilling out 2Ă—2.5 inch deep mortises and attempting to clean them up manually, I decided this was WWAAYY too much work. Status: Rejected; schedule constraint. During this process, I re-learned how to re-install the chuck into the drill press.
(5) This was my wife's idea (she's not the engineer): Cut off the top 2 inches of the rail and make a smaller, third rail. This way, the the curved rail will fit under the mortiser. GENIUS; this was the fix. To cut the deep mortises, I found it much easier to clean out most of the material using the drill press / forstner bit & use the mortising machine for the final cut. Status: approved.

Wood Black-and-white Architecture Style Line


For the bottom rail, I cut a 0.25 inch dado along top edge to receive the stile tenons. This was much easier than cutting a bunch of tiny motrises. We aligned them manually during glue-up to ensure correct spacing.

Only after I was satisfied with the design & how everything fit, I cut the rail tenons and mortises in the posts. Here's a partial dry fit.

Wood Outdoor furniture Road surface Hardwood Asphalt


One note regarding the timeframe for this project: My wife and I built a king size bed frame in the same manner (bed bolts / solid headboard) a few years ago; we started in June, finished in December. For this project I needed to have two frames built, finished, & assembled in about three weeks.

Lessons Learned:
  • Start with 4 (not 6) inch top rails
  • Cut the curve first, mark & cut mortises after. This way, there is less material to remove, less cleanup work, & more time to do other things
 

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#8 ·
Deep Mortises

Here's an outline drawing I did for one of the headboards.

Rectangle Parallel Font Slope Diagram


The post caps, curved top rail, & varying stile widths help break up the straight lines from my original design. Thanks to my wife and a few other LJ'ers for the ideas. (I'm definitely not a right-brainer.) The stiles fit into mortises on the top & bottom rails.

I didn't foresee any problems at the time. Do you?

I cut the top and bottom headboard rails to size, cut the bottom rail tenons, fitted them to the post mortises, and marked the curves. I ripped the stiles & sent them through the planer for final sizing. So far so good.

Wood Table Flooring Floor Rectangle


How to cut mortises for the stiles, though? Hmmm. Here's an idea: cut 2.5 inch deep mortises in top rail, cut curve with the bandsaw, clean up mortises, fit stiles, done. This was a GREAT idea, until I learned that the mortising machine clearance was only 4.5 inches.

Wood Gas Hardwood Door Shelving


FRACK. Now what? We came up with four options:

(1) Rip the top rail lengthwise, down the center, cut the deep mortises, & glue back together. Status: rejected; didn't want to spend the time to glue it back together & clean it up. Too much work.
(2) Cut curve on bandsaw first, then mark & drill mortises. Status: rejected; seemed overly challenging, end of rail still wouldn't fit under mortiser.
(3) Skip the curve and just use narrower rails. Stauts: rejected; didn't want to make the design any more bland.
(4) Drill out mortises with forstner bit, cut curve on bandsaw, then hand chisel to finish. After drilling out 2Ă—2.5 inch deep mortises and attempting to clean them up manually, I decided this was WWAAYY too much work. Status: Rejected; schedule constraint. During this process, I re-learned how to re-install the chuck into the drill press.
(5) This was my wife's idea (she's not the engineer): Cut off the top 2 inches of the rail and make a smaller, third rail. This way, the the curved rail will fit under the mortiser. GENIUS; this was the fix. To cut the deep mortises, I found it much easier to clean out most of the material using the drill press / forstner bit & use the mortising machine for the final cut. Status: approved.

Wood Black-and-white Architecture Style Line


For the bottom rail, I cut a 0.25 inch dado along top edge to receive the stile tenons. This was much easier than cutting a bunch of tiny motrises. We aligned them manually during glue-up to ensure correct spacing.

Only after I was satisfied with the design & how everything fit, I cut the rail tenons and mortises in the posts. Here's a partial dry fit.

Wood Outdoor furniture Road surface Hardwood Asphalt


One note regarding the timeframe for this project: My wife and I built a king size bed frame in the same manner (bed bolts / solid headboard) a few years ago; we started in June, finished in December. For this project I needed to have two frames built, finished, & assembled in about three weeks.

Lessons Learned:
  • Start with 4 (not 6) inch top rails
  • Cut the curve first, mark & cut mortises after. This way, there is less material to remove, less cleanup work, & more time to do other things
Ahhh yes. I used to hate that 4-5 inch height limit on my benchtop mortiser. I even purchased an extension rod for the hold-down, which increased the capacity a little. Even then, if you were using a larger chisel the board often wouldn't fit.

I encountered the limitation often, so I upgraded to a floor standing mortiser that allows about 8" under the chisel. That is good for all of my projects except the wide lower kick-rails on doors, but I don't make those very often.

I love having those problem solving discussions with my wife. My first solution usually involves an elaborate or expensive approach. Then she'll say why don't you just do it this way…
I'll retort that won't work because you see… er…um. I'll be darned that just might work.
 

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#10 ·
Bed Bolts & Final Assembly

With the dry-fit of the headboards complete, it was time to drill holes for the bed bolts. (Sorry, no pictures. I'm sure you can imagine what holes look like.)

The 3/8 inch holes through the posts were done earlier on the drill press (see part #3). Two were off-center by about 1/16 inch, but the rest were spot-on. To bore into the rails, I set up the mini-jig below for each joint.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


The rail is held in place using some scrap 4Ă—4 and clamps. The shoulders are flush with the scrap, ensuring minimal lateral movement once the post is in position. I fit the tenon into the post mortise & (using the post hole as a guide) bored a 3/8 inch hole into the end of the rail. This took a while, but I finished soon enough. No issues.

Using the mortising machine, I cut the mortises for the bed bolt nuts. I still haven't figured out the important tricks for using the bed bolt / nut hardware, so I was expecting a mild headache later when I did the final assembly.

Using a jig from a previous project, I routed shallow mortises for the mattress hangers - 3 per long rail, one on each short rail. Again, no issues. Just time consuming.

Finally, I removed all the burn & planer marks with the #5 1/4 & low angle block planes. After sanding at #180 and #220, all the pieces looked very nice! After one final dry-fit, I brought all the pieces inside to acclimate before glue-up. Again, the garage was a MESS.

Wood Gas Machine Hardwood Plywood


Both headboards are shown below, ready for finishing.

Outdoor furniture Wood Wood stain Hardwood Comfort


During the cleanup / dry fit process, the outside temperature went from cold (upper 30s in the morning) to almost 60 in the afternoon. Even though I had applied 3 coats of Johnson's paste wax, a nice thin film of rust on the surface of the new table saw soon appeared. Not cool.

We had 3/4 can of walnut gel stain left over from another project, so we used that for the finish. We applied one coat of stain, spreading on heavily and wiping off with cloth rags. The fumes weren't too bad - which was good, since our dining room table doubles as an indoor workbench. A single coat seemed to be just enough to bring out the dark gain lines in the oak while still preserving contrast with the lighter wood.

I created four different styles of end caps to see which one looked the best: square edge (blah), roundover (abomination), beveled (ugly), & round-nose (is that what it's called?). I don't have a router table, so, for the detail work on the end caps, I attached a piece of scrap to the back of each piece…

Tableware Table Rectangle Wood Flooring


which was then secured in the vice…

Wood Rectangle Hardwood Plank Wood stain


so that the round nose bit could do its work. Each end cap was secured to the post top using glue and a single finish nail then stained.

Table Wood Desk Rectangle Wood stain


The garage was thoroughly cleaned & dusted, and all pieces were given a single coat of Bulls Eye clear shellack using an HVLP sprayer.

As expected, during final assembly, the bed bolts wouldn't engage with the nuts. [Insert expletives here] After enlarging the nut holes using the mortiser, the bed bolts engaged the nuts the FIRST TIME and assembly was a snap. Imagine that.

Brown Rectangle Wood Material property Wood stain


Question: Is it possible to mortise a hole that is deeper than the thickness of the wood (without breaking through the opposite side)? With the enlarged holes, it sure looked like it. It must have been an optical illusion.

Here are the finished frames (note the subtle difference between each headboard):

Furniture Picture frame Wood Flooring Rectangle


Wood Shelf Bookcase House Floor


And the finished beds:

Furniture Property Building Comfort Picture frame


Furniture Comfort Bed frame Wood Textile


My wife and I completed the two bed frames in record time (for us), with only a couple minor goof-ups. I kept a log of our work time (much more than we had anticipated) & material costs (not too much). If I have the opportunity to build any more bed frames, either for a paying customer or as a gift, I now have a better understanding of where to save time & how to ensure a higher-quality finished product. This was a fun project.

Finally: We finished the bed frames just in time. The following week, COLD winter temps and snow finally arrived. My car was happy to be back in the garage.

Lessons Learned:
  • Consider using bed bolts with the half-moon threaded nuts, like these or these, which look to be much less of a headache.
  • Bed bolt holes: make slightly larger than the nuts, perhaps 1/8 inch each direction.
  • Scuff sand after staining and after first coat of shellac
  • Apply two coats of shellac
  • Apply shellac in warmer temperatures
 

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