Modern King-Size Oak Bed


Denette

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Some friends of mine have always been supportive of local businesses trying to start up, so when they heard I was going to be doing woodworking projects on commission this summer, they asked me to build them a bed.  They sent this picture:

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Which I used as a baseline for my SketchUp model, which served as the plan for the entire project.  

(I'm going to keep adding pictures, but the upload limit means I'll have to add a few per post.)

The SketchUp file from which I made the bed is attached to this post - feel free to poke around in it.  Heck, make one if you want.  It's a complete set of plans.  Here's a photo of it if you don't want to download it:

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The design is all of my own engineering, and now that the bed is together I can confirm that it is probably both bulletproof and bombproof.  I actually had to use my parallel clamps as spreaders to lift the headboard off the ground yesterday.  The darker wood on the exterior is red oak, and the lighter wood on the interior is poplar.  I got them from my local hardwood dealer, and began immediately jointing them to thickness.

Mays Bed (Final).skp

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Along with the jointer, I got to try out another (decidedly less effective and monumentally disappointing) tool - this homemade garage air conditioner!  It was pretty much a bust unless you stood right next to it.  Oh well.2.thumb.jpg.12c0fc1c6e89daa3c4940eaf3d5b

Ah, here are the boards - all the poplar is lying on the sawhorses, and the second shelf up holds the red oak.  Recognize Marc's lumber rack?  :) 3.thumb.jpg.2d74bf67256075d3dd2fc178b242

I had to be very careful with which boards gut cut to which size, of course - here's my system for keeping track of which board is which, and what size to cut to.  Normally I do everything on a computer, but sawdust and a macbook seem like poor bedfellows.4.thumb.jpg.0eb851b48c90d04a7c7787c8e771

Here's the jointer after I'd jointed a good number of the boards.  My next purchase is going to be, unsurprisingly, a dust collector.  I've got to hand it to Grizzly, the jointer arrived coplanar, sharp, and ready to go after about half a day of assembly.

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Getting the boards down to size was a major milestone.  6.thumb.jpg.569eea8d0357dc341f1e2e8ef8eb

Edited by Arrdenet
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To determine which project pieces I'd get out of which boards, I took measurements of each board and recreated it in Sketchup, then disassembled my model and determined which pieces I could get from which boards.  What you see here is when I took measurements of the poplar boards.  Yes they are leaning on the top of the garage door.  And yes, it would have been catastrophic if the door were opened.  And yes, I absentmindedly opened it.  There was much swearing, but virtually no damage, so that was good!  Learn from my mistake.9.thumb.jpg.5c4ad222be5c3bc9b9545ec87b96

I made about six total trash cans of dust on this project - it's easily the largest scale thing I've ever made.  Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever build anything much larger than a king size bed!8.thumb.jpg.801d6878cee58147149452ab7fdc

Now the fun part begins!  This is the first bed component to be built, the under-frame for the headboard.  I'd originally planned on using 1.5" thick poplar, but the dealer only had 4/4, so I planed to ¾ and then laminated.  Saved me a lot of dado cutting, at least - with only a thin-kerf blade, dadoes are a paaaaain in my shop.  Add a dado blade to the list after the dust collector.10.thumb.jpg.13dad13694910837faef9447d6e

Here's the headboard's under-structure, already going together!  11.thumb.jpg.aebfd1291436639db8f7808cc0d

Pretty pretty clamps...

Also, any other Chaco woodworkers out there?  :)

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After the headboard's under-structure came together, it was time to get working on some rails.  To achieve the thick look the customer wanted, I had to get creative.  14.thumb.jpg.25251b27e372836aabc782cd989

I used a poplar board for the inward-facing side, with a quarter sawn oak cap and a flat sawn oak outside and bottom.  The ¾" void in the center was filled with a poplar strip located where each bedrail would line up later. 

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Here are the rails about to be given their final glue-up.  You can see the poplar spacers well here.13.thumb.jpg.a0400df399c4559528157123510

You never can have too many clamps...  As you can see, the end of the rail isn't perfect.  Alas.  At least it's not a structural weakness or visible during normal use.

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Here's rail one finished, with rail two gluing in the background.  I glued the rails up in several phases.  First the poplar board was glued to the bottom oak board, then the spacers were glued and screwed into place.  Following that, the oak face board was glued on and laid into its tongue-and-groove joint at the bottom.  The quarter sawn top strip went on last.

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Here we are - the headboard's assembly!  The whole project was designed to accommodate my client's desire for solid wood, even though plywood would probably have been a better pick for such a large panel.  Therefore, the headboard's massive size demanded some sort of movement accommodation.  The poplar frame underneath is where the majority of the headboard's structural integrity lies.  The face panels, while ¾" thick, are actually floating in place with no glue.  Each was cut with a tongue on the top and ends and a groove along the bottom.  I fastened the top board on in its appropriate position, then spaced each board below it with ⅛" of space hidden in the tongue-and-groove to allow for movement.  The face panels are held in place by screws fastened along the center of the board where it meets the poplar under-frame; therefore any movement that occurs will be split in half, above and below the board.  

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Additionally, flipping the headboard got progressively more ambitious with each oak slat.  My eyes bulged and I laughed maniacally the last time I did it.  The next day I called a buddy to help, haha!
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This headboard might have also made a passable picnic table.

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The footboard had a single 8/4 board with a half-lap where it met the legs.  That half lap was fun to cut.  I had to use the auxiliary shop (driveway) for its higher ceiling.

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The footboard went together much like the headboard did, just shorter.  I made the legs on the end from oak so that they would still look good when exposed, an issue the headboard did not present.

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The footboard went much more quickly.  With the addition of the 8/4 oak board, it's almost as heavy as the headboard! 

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Here's my first look at the bed!  The light at the end of the tunnel begins to shine!

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Here's where the bed stands as of today!  It's got just about everything in place except for the finish.  I tested it with an air mattress and it was glorious.  At least, as much as a queen-sized air mattress on king-sized open slats can be.

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Finishing has always been daunting to me.  My friends wants me to match it to a piece of furniture they picked up.  Here you can see the oak on top of the furniture they want me to match it to.  29.thumb.jpg.6a249dcf7e0b5dc7a52ea9aa175

The issue is that originally they wanted something substantially lighter - sort of a pickled oak look, which would have been doable.  Now they want me to match this darker color, and I'm not sure if it's even possible - it's not even real wood, it's a laser printed veneer on top of particle board.  

My red oak just isn't taking the darker stain like I feel like it should.  Here's the best I've been able to do on a piece of scrap - it's Minwax classic gray over a pre-stain treatment.  Any finishing help from the gurus out there would be super appreciated, because I don't want to bugger up a month's worth of woodworking with a poor finish.

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Anyway, thanks for looking at my project thus far!  I'm going to go tinker with stain some more...

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Don't sand past 120 or 150 grit. You might try making a sample without the pre stain. You might need to mix stains to get what you are looking for. Some paint stores(especially ones that sell to pro finishers) will custom mix color matched stains. It's usually around $75 to $90 for the first gallon and the charge for the match, then around $50-60 per gallon if you need more.

you can dilute Minwax stains with the "Natural " which has no pigments added to it. It's just the solvents,resins binders etc that is in all of their stains and no color. Stir each can thoroughly before mixing, measure carefully and take notes ! Sometimes making the stain lighter and using a couple of coats gives more even results.

Nice looking bed !

If you lean boards on the garage door unplug it ! Accident waiting to happen.  If you cut tenons with long boards verticall watch the wind and that the saw is set up very stable and level.  I learned both the hard way.

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wow this is awesome ... crazy thing is the wife was looking at that exact same bed in your original post wanting me to build her something similar. 

 

Keep up the good work and cant wait to see this all finished up! 

That's awesome! My second post in this thread has the sketchup file if you want to make one or get some ideas. 

 

And thanks!

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image.thumb.jpg.d319591c7b8072a5b7c7e3e7The stain went on today!  I mixed a custom color, using 4 parts Minwax Classic Grey and one part Minwax Dark Walnut.  It matches the client's furniture rather well!  A few things I learned.

1. When staining, it is silly to use that HVLP sprayer.  Yes it's fun to use, but save it for the polyurethane.  It applies way too much stain and doesn't work it into the wood as well as wiping it on.

2. When working outside in the green hell of the Arkansas summer, think twice before placing your HVLP sprayer on the ground, where its tank will be in full contact with the 1000° concrete.  The tank will heat up and the change in pressure will cause the sprayer to burp a nice gray finish onto your driveway.

3. Check the forecast before setting up to stain outside.  You might just see a sudden torrential rainstorm heading your way in half an hour on your otherwise sunny day.

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At least none of my troubles marred the project!

Edited by Arrdenet
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Excellent project journal and really nice bed too!
 From what I can see you gave the client what they wanted.

I like the make-shift A/C unit too...so what if it doesn't actually work.

Maybe something along the lines of a "swamp cooler" would work, but the humidity it produces might not be cast-iron-friendly. It may depend on your normal relative humidity...I don't know a thing about AK weather...

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Just took a look at this for the first time.  Great build - it was cool to see it from start to finish and I like how you got creative to match what the customer wanted.  Awesome job.

If you're trying to color red oak in the future, try using water based dyes - it's a bit easier to get the specific color you want.  My bro in law used a darker General Finishes dye stain on a red oak table and it came out great.  Marc has a few videos on the process.

Either way though your coloring looks great, so all's well that ends well.

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