Mission Twin Bed...

[SARGE..g-47]

QSWO with maple box spring slats.. The pics are poor as I had no place to really photograph it. No one to help move to the driveway where access would have been better. It was just sitting between rows of machines in the shop ready to deliver and not enough room for a good side angle which I really wanted. I am somewhat ambarrassed of the photo's but... so goes life as the bed is now in transit.

Nothing very exiting about a Mission bed I suppose as they are a pretty straight forward build.. sort of Missionary to say the least. Built in 8 five hour days.. 3 five hour days to sand and finish.. an additional week and half to cure before wax and rub-out which added another day. I don't get in much of a hurry anymore.

Am I ready to add on to the deck added onto 2 yrs. ago? Might as well be as she has given the command. There is no end it appears. haha...

[tommyt654]

Hey Sarge, Thats a really good lookin job. Momma likes it so much she wants one for the extra bedroom, Guess I,ll be busy buildin 1 too. Nice job

[Shep]

Great job!

[atgcpaul]

Very nice, Sarge.

Do the slats go into individual mortises or is there a groove plowed down the
middle of the rails and then the gaps between the slats filled in with cheater
blocks?

Paul

[BadeMillsap]

Really nice!

LOML has requested same in Queen Size ... guess I better get lumber bought!

M&G Sawmill here I come ...

[Turaj]

Nice looking project Sarge. I really like the finish! And done in 12 days? If it was me, it would be more like 12 months

[pelligrini]

You may not think it's terribly exciting, but it sure does look sharp to me. Nice clean lines and modest detail. I love pieces that let the wood grain speak for itself, nothing better than a Mission style in QSWO.

What was your finishing combo? Did you use some black wax to get the grain to pop out like that?

[pelligrini]

And done in 12 days? If it was me, it would be more like 12 months

No kidding! I'd probably spend that many days just deciding how I'm going to put it togeather, and probably double that figuring out how to fix the stupid ideas once I started.

[lrogers]

I have to to agree with Erik, on both counts. great work Sarge.

[chopnhack]

ahhh...but the work is beautiful Sarge

[SARGE..g-47]

Thanks Tommy.. Paul.. Bade.. Turaj.. Pelligrini.. Irodgers and Chop!

Tommy.. funny as to mama wants one for the extra bedroom. That's where this was going a month ago before starting but.. she who rules found out our favorite niece has box springs and mattress on the floor and no bed. So... in a few months after some other priority projects I do it again. I will wait as I hate doing the same piece consecutively.. too much like production work and that is not my cup of tea.

Paul.. these are individually cut mortices. I have an industrial floor morticer which is not as quick and you must register the position of the cut perfectly or you mess up some wood. I like the challenge but there is a much quicker way I will suggest in lieu of cheater blocks you mentioned.

You trench (dado) a row down the center of the upper and lower foot and head-board bottom stretchers or rails 3/4" deep the intended width of your slats which is my case 3/4". Then you take One wider 3/4" board and cut dadoes cross grain on that long piece 3/8" wide spaced the distance to allow for the tenon and shoulder plus the spacing between. When done the wide piece is ripped into 4 pieces allowing extra to take it to size (3/4') by edge jointing on the jointer. You now have 4 perfectly aligned strips that can be cut to lenght to fit into the dado in the HB and FB rails. You can actually finish the slats and glue them in the strips before you finally glue the strip into the bottom and top dado in the rails. I finish every component before assembly which saves much time and effort as getting in between slat spaced 1" apart is a major task. And this method is much more efficient than cheater blocks glued between IMO. One step in lieu of many steps with the cheater blocks.

Bade.. I assume you have dimensions for the Queen size you will build as far as mattress sizes and what to allow. If not PM me and I will give them to you for the Queen.. or King or Full for that matter. Have to allow enough but not too much or the fit looks sloppy IMO.

PelligrinI.. the finish is my usual for QSWO. My stock comes off my planer pretty smooth so I sand 120..150.. 180 and stop. I have found no advantage to going beyond 180 on open pored white oak. If it were filled and you were shooting for a very gloss finish then yes.. but oak is rarely filled as it is used mainly for A & C and gloss is not the way to go in that case IMO. I do go to 220 on soft-woods as that helps burnish the surface and you get a more even flow with stain if used.

Stain.. in this case General American Oak as I use Bartley's but.. Bartley went under recently and not available. Rumors are someone bought it and it will soon re-appear. I use wipe on Mini-wax poly cut with naptha (dried faster than mineral spirits) to 60%-40% for the first two coat lightly scuffing between coats. I use 1000 grit Abra-lon which is aggressive so about equivalent to 600 grit wet-dry. The third coat is mixed 50%-50% then applied. If the piece is a heavy traffic piece as a kitchen table.. etc. I apply the 4th coat cut to 50%-50%.

I don't consider a bed heavy traffic subject to water.. scuffing once in place so this got 3 coats. I do not believe in caking the project in poly as it looks plastic and I have found it not really necessary once you have a solid original base. The 1st coat is a base.. the second fills and the third gets any thing the 2nds doesn't and is the finish coat. I don't scuff out at this point. I allow to dry or cure for about a week or more depending on the humidity and how the weather co-operates. This is critical IMO as the poly must harden.. gas off before the rub-out is effective. The rub-out is done with 0000 Liberon steel wool and Liberon Black Bison Medium Oak which kills two birds at once. It takes any slight nibs from the surface on the last finish coat and it applies the wax at the same time. The tint of the darker in that wax goes into any open pores at that point and darkens them which is an effect I call Tiger striping it as you see the black lines streaked in the lighter surface wood.

Sorry to be so detailish but.. I am somewhat of a detailish person when it comes to WW techniques.

[JR]

Nicely done, Sarge! Nice long tapers to the supports - very elegant.

JR

[SARGE..g-47]

Nicely done, Sarge! Nice long tapers to the supports - very elegant.

JR

Thanks JR...