Laminating 1x to make 2x Stock

[crokett]

I need to make a side rail for my daughter's This End Up bunk bed so we can put a matress up top. The only place I know of that sells yellow pine thick enough is 40 minutes west of me. I was thinking about laminating 3/4" stock from the BORG. Will that suffice to be a side rail? I can back it up by putting dowels along the inside after the glueup is done.

[LCHIEN]

i do it all the time.

P.S. Are you sure you need 2x for the side rails? I made a full size bed for my daughter's apartment and it's just maple 1x 6 for the side members. I used a 1x2 glued and screwed to the inside to support the cross pieces that hold the matress.

[pelligrini]

It should be fine. You probably don't even need dowels.

It's done all the time with structural members; gluelams, microlams, etc.

[jackellis]

It's done all the time with structural members; gluelams, microlams, etc.

I'm looking outside right now at a ridge beam that holds up the roof of our garage. It's a 24 foot long by 18" deep gluelam made of 2x material that has to carry 100+ tons of snow load (200 psf over 500 sf of roof area). There are no fasteners holding the laminations together.

[drumpriest]

I've done it to make table legs, worked out ok, you should think of using cambered cauls during the glue up to get nice even pressure, or you may have a noticeable glue line.

It brings up an interesting side discussion though. I drive 40 mins every day to work, and driving that distance (or time) is pretty trivial to me, and it would certainly be worth the effort to get the thicker stock. It interests me to think about people's different attitudes toward such a thing given their past experience. I have family in southern cali that refer to things being really far away when they are 10 minute drives.

[just started]

Are you talking about a safety rail so she doesn't roll out or a structural rail as part of the mattress support? If for a safety rail I would just use a 1x4.

[cabinetman]

Are you talking about a safety rail so she doesn't roll out or a structural rail as part of the mattress support? If for a safety rail I would just use a 1x4.

That's a very good question that wasn't made clear. As a general answer, 1x4's can be glued up. Two by fours are 1 1/2" x 3 1/2", so if dimensional wood is used as is, a 1x4 would be 3/4" x 3 1/2".
.

[Richard in Smithville]

Crocket, I glued up four 1x4's to make the legs of my daughters bed when she was six. Now she is 13 and they havn't budged. But like the others have said, 1x stock for a safety rail should be fine. Just build it so it will attach to the bed at least three or four places along it's length.

[JoeyGee]

I have made 2 NYW trundle beds and used laminated 1x6's for the side rails on both. Both have held up very well against my 4 and 6 year olds.

[JimD]

I used a 1x4 for the safety rail of my son's bunk bed. It was plenty strong enough.

If you want it to be thicker, you could glue up or plane or cut down a 2x4. I wouldn't go more than an inch thick, but only because I think it would look like too much mass for the function. I ripped 2x4s down to a full inch for the guard rails of my trailer on my BT3100 so I could put 49x97 sheets of MDF or melamine in it. It was not exactly fun but one for a guard rail should be a piece of cake.

Jim