First Furniture Project

[ssmith1627]

Hey guys. Finally had something I felt almost worthy of this section of the forum ! haha This is my first non-shop project. All maple -- wanted something light for a child's room. This is for my foster son.

http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v..._0805Smith0085

http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v..._0805Smith0088

Worked a little bit here and there as I had time so it took me a few months to get it done. Made plenty of mistakes along the way too -- whew ! Made from plans in Wood magazine. Going to try to make the dresser that goes with it now.

Thanks for looking !

Steve

[eddy merckx]

That's beatiful Steve. I'll bet you really did put a lot of hours into that. Not bad for a first project!

[warrenp]

Wow Steve...that is an impressive project...first one or otherwise.

Very nice...Warren

[Larryl]

Very impressive work Steve, quite a first project to tackle. I bet your family is requesting many more now that "Dad" has revealed his woodworking talents.

[ssmith1627]

It's one of those things -- if you step back, the lighting is dim, you don't look directly at it and kinda squint your eyes -- it looks pretty good ! haha

The plan called for bolts and cross dowels. I drilled some and then made some little jigs to do a better job of the drilling but I still had pretty miserable results. I ended up plugging all those holes and starting over with some brackets from Rockler. Made a jig to do the mortising into the headboard and footboard legs and it really turned out fine. Very solid and they're hidden.

Let me tell ya -- sitting down and then laying down that first time, I really didn't know what to expect. I've been on it now with my wife and the bed is still standing 4-5 days later so I guess it's going to be ok. Time will tell !

Thanks for the comments guys -- very much appreciated. I'm happy to be part of the forum here -- you really can't beat this group of people.

Steve

[cgallery]

That is extremely nice looking. A very enthusiastic first furniture project, too.

[Ken Massingale]

That looks great, Steve. Tackling a project like that is tough but it is the best way to learn, at least for me. You done good and should be very proud.
k

[JR]

Verry pretty, Steve. I hope you remembered to sign it. It's sure to become a family heirloom!

JR

[Garasaki]

Can you elaborate a bit more on the joinery?

Sounds like mortise and tennon for the "slats" in the front?

What about the "aprons" around the sides to the legs in the corners? The cross supports to the aprons?? etc

I think it looks very nice. I bet if you placed it next to a reasonably priced storebought model in a side-by-side comparison, yours would fair much better then you are giving yourself credit for.

[ssmith1627]

I didn't have access to any 12/4 maple stock so the headboard and footboard legs are laminations. That's the way the plans were written up anyway. It makes the mortises for the cross pieces (aprons?) easy because you just cut them out of the middle piece of the lamination before you do the glueup. The tenons on those pieces are easy as well because it's just each end of the piece -- the aprons and the rails are maple plywood.

On top and bottom of each rail and apron is a maple trim piece. On the apron trim there's a 3/4" dado cut into it so that it fits over the top or bottom edge of the apron. On the other side of the trim piece is another dado, 3/8" wide, that works as a slat retainer.

The slats are put in place dry and little 2 1/4" spacers are glued in place between them. You start in the center and work your way out cutting the last 1 on each side to fit the exact gap that's left. That made it much than having to create a mortise in the apron or the trim piece for each slat -- just one long groove and spacers.

The headboard cap is a lamination of three 1/4" pieces of maple clamped to a form. That same form let me use a bandsaw and pattern bit to create the upper headboard apron.

Definitely no rocket science here but it was a lot for me. Making the cove moldings that fit under the headboard and footboard caps proved to be quite a challenge for me too.

More pics:
http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v...umName=album04

http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v...lbum01&page=10

Steve

[footprintsinconc]

So its done! man, that looks great! especially with the mattres and the bedding in place. he sure is going to enjoy it!

one question though, and you may have answered it previously. looking at the picture: http://ssmith1627.myphotoalbum.com/v..._0124Smith0101 it shows layers of wood glued togather with the top clamped in. is the head board that thick? are the all the layers maple or is there plywood in it. lastly, the top board that is curved in the picture, is that maple or mdf? sorry, my eyes may not be seeing this correctly

regards,

[ssmith1627]

Yeah, finally done. Just like the Handyman Rock Solid Workbench they said you could build in a weekend -- took me 4 months. haha

The headboard "aprons" (if that's the right term) are just one layer thick, maple plywood -- same for the rails. What you're looking at is the bending form for the headboard cap. It serves as a clamping form for that lamination and as a guide for the router to clean up the arc cut on the bandsaw for the headboard upper apron. I had a scrap piece left from my workbench -- oak plywood -- and the other layers are MDF -- all just screwed together to make that form. Cut one on the bandsaw, sand it to clean it up, put the next against it to mark it, bandsaw it, rout it to match the first and so on.

Make sense now ?

Steve

[Garasaki]

The slats are put in place dry and little 2 1/4" spacers are glued in place between them. You start in the center and work your way out cutting the last 1 on each side to fit the exact gap that's left. That made it much than having to create a mortise in the apron or the trim piece for each slat -- just one long groove and spacers.

Oh that's a really slick idea.

I'm storing that one in the old brain box to be used later....

On the laminations to produce the corner posts, is it just (4) boards that have mitered edges? or are they butted?

[ssmith1627]

Each leg (post) is a face lamination of 3 boards -- the middle one has the notches that create the mortise when the boards are glued up. So they're not hollow if that helps answer the question.

Steve

[Garasaki]

lol sorry about the endless string of questions...

So do you see the glue lines on the ... edge where the 3 short sides line up? Or is that covered, like with a veneer or anything?