Bunk bed project started - sort of

[BadeMillsap]

Well I say "WAY COOL!!" ... Looks really nice!

[tfischer]

This project is proceeding at a snail's pace, but it's proceeding at least... Just got back from a 10 day vacation on Saturday, and am working on it once again. Last night I finished the holes for the barrel nuts and bolts that hold it all together (tricky measuring), and tonight I assembled both sections, then drilled the holes that align the stacked pieces in place (more tricky measurement).

It was cool to see it all together for the first time (well, the pieces that are completed anyway). But as soon as I snapped these pics, I took it all back down, did some final sanding, and stacked them back up in prep for staining, hopefully tomorrow.

Next up after getting the finish on these pieces: getting the upper rails built, and then the ladder.

The boys are going to spend a week at my mom's in late August so I've set a hard deadline for myself to get the beds installed in their room while they are away. It will be a nice surprise when they return.

-Tim

[tfischer]

Wow, where does the time go? I got stalled on this project (and woodworking in general) for the entire month of June. Tonight I jumped back in it. My oldest and I cut the bed rails and cleats to their final lengths, rounded over the edges, and sanded them down. I then drilled counterbores in the cleats to prepare for their assembly, hopefully tomorrow.

My countersink bits are crap... will start another thread about that.

Here's my personal sanding assistant at work.

[tfischer]

We just got back from Lancaster, PA so we could take the kids to Dutch Wonderland. Anyway, the hotel where we stayed had a bunk bed for the kids. My older daughter took the top bunk right away and the younger one begrudgingly accepted the bottom one. I can see one of these in our future.

Have very fond memories of bringing my kids (now 6 & 9) there about 5 years ago. Would love to go back, but I doubt will make it there while they're young enough to appreciate it again. It was a perfect park for my oldest at time... he did his first "big" roller coaster there, and his second the next day at Hershypark...

[atgcpaul]

We just got back from Lancaster, PA so we could take the kids to Dutch Wonderland. Anyway, the hotel where we stayed had a bunk bed for the kids. My older daughter took the top bunk right away and the younger one begrudgingly accepted the bottom one. I can see one of these in our future.

[tfischer]

I feel bad as I haven't posted here much lately, but I've been pulled in so many directions... Latest thing is we just bought a used pop-up camper and we spent a lot of time researching options, picking it up, figuring out a place to store it (we don't have a good spot at home), etc. And next week I'm away for a business trip...

I did finish milling the stock for the bed rails last week. Probably won't get any more progress on this project for another week and a half or so, but I haven't abandoned it...

[tfischer]

Worked on milling the rails. Since they are about 7 feet long, they're a bit of a PITA to get across the jointer, planer, and even table saw. And my one and only roller stand was being a PITA yesterday...

I'll get some new pics posted soon I hope.

[leehljp]

That sure looks nice! Well done! Can't wait to see the finished product.

[tfischer]

Haven't updated this thread for over a week, so I figured that in the spirit of keeping some woodworking content flowing here, I'd better do so

Progress has slowed a bit, with us having to finally get out and get some lawn and garden work done (this has been an awful spring... late snow, cold, and now very wet, although we do need the moisture), and we were out of town all weekend. But I've managed to squeeze a little shop time in.

Basically all the headboards and footboards are assembled except for their top caps, and that's in progress (just glued on the second one tonight... only have enough clamps for one glue-up at a time). Next up will be the side rails, which should be pretty easy - just mill the stock down to size and add some fasteners.

-Tim

[tfischer]

More progress over the weekend, even though I've been pretty busy with other things too.

First I had to do all the tenons on the headboard/footboard slats, which, since there are plenty of them, took awhile. Considering I'm relatively green at mortise & tenon joinery it went pretty smoothly.

Next was the somewhat monumental job of pre-assembly sanding everything. I enlisted my oldest son (who is the recipient of one of the beds) to help with this task, and he actually did much of the work himself while I guided him and worked on some other things. He did a great job, sanding everything through two grits.

And finally I was able to do the first actual assembly for the project, headboard "A". I only have one set of long clamps so Il have to wait until this sets up to glue up the rest. But "headboard B" has been dry-fit, adjusted, and is on-deck awaiting glue.

[tfischer]

Looking good.

Who gets the top bunk? I've never slept on the top bunk except on the Amtrak auto train. Not for me.

The boys are actually arguing over that already (both want it). We'll probably have to have them time-share lol.

[tfischer]

those holes decorative? Looks like they are.
Before you glue-assemble it you might consider a roundover of both side of the hole with a small radius bit. Easy to do on a router table with a bearing bit, quickly. Might make it look nicely finished and maybe a bit softer. They look to be 1-1/2 inches or maybe 1-1/4 dia? Suggest a roundover of 3/16ths or maybe 1/8 or 1/4" depending upon your taste.

It's hard to tell from the pic but they actually are rounded over already - 1/8" radius. If I had left one of them not rounded over,the difference would be obvious.

Yep, the holes are purely decorative. Several pieces from the "Children's Furniture Projects" book which this is based off of use that motif, including the toy box I built for the boys a number of years back.

As an aside, in doing the round-overs, I discovered that MLCS screwed up when I bought my 66-piece router bit set about 5 years ago... instead of getting a 1/8" roundover bit, I have two 1/8" chamfer bits, but oddly they're slightly different. Luckily I still have my former set of 1/4" shank bits that I always intended to sell after getting the bigger 1/2" shank set so I used that. Evidently this is the first time I needed that bit

-Tim

[atgcpaul]

Looking good.

Who gets the top bunk? I've never slept on the top bunk except on the Amtrak auto train. Not for me.

[LCHIEN]

those holes decorative? Looks like they are.
Before you glue-assemble it you might consider a roundover of both side of the hole with a small radius bit. Easy to do on a router table with a bearing bit, quickly. Might make it look nicely finished and maybe a bit softer. They look to be 1-1/2 inches or maybe 1-1/4 dia? Suggest a roundover of 3/16ths or maybe 1/8 or 1/4" depending upon your taste.

[tfischer]

Tonight's task was working on the rail tenons for the headboards and footboard. In the first picture, the upper rails are done, and the lower rails (to the left) are partially cut. When I built my son's junior bed I used a dado stack to cut the tenons. This time I used a homemade tenoning jig that I built last week from these plans: https://www.finewoodworking.com/work...oning-jig.aspx. Both methods worked well.

Once the tenons were cut, I did a quick dry-fit as a sanity check, as shown in the second pic. Still needs a little adjustment but they fit pretty well. Next up are the tenons on the slats that fill the space between the upper and lower rail.