Popular Post Na1han Posted January 27, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 My wife and I moved into a new house a little over a year ago and I said I wanted to build the bed. Originally I was planning maybe 3-4 months to complete it ... that has since proven to be slightly ambitious. I found this forum maybe 6 months ago and have learned a ton from reading everything you guys have contributed, thanks for all the help. This is going to be a longer journal post since I am a good ways into the build but I wanted to share and see if anyone had any comments that could help me out. I also needed some motivation to get me to finish this project up a little quicker. I had to start this project by assembling a shop at my new house. We wanted to park our cars in the garage since we are in Michigan and it snows so I choose the basement. This meant I had to get permission to "unfinish" half of the finished basement from the boss, which she thankfully agreed to. I was able to get myself a new table saw and eventually was able to get a dust collector. All my other tools at this point are hammy downs from my grandpa, my wife's grandpa, and my dad. My dad had recently gotten a small sawmill so decided to make the bed out of wood from his property. My dad helped out and we sawed up a large maple and loaded the wood into a kiln we had recently made. I then went and made the structure part of the platform so I could get the mattress off the floor while I finish the rest of the bed. I also built the drawers since I had the material and knew they had to be sized to fit in the structure. At this point I decided to learn sketchup so I could see what I was planning in my head and better lay out a cut list for the wood that was in the kiln. The idea is to have a platform bed with 4 drawers on each side and a super size drawer down the middle. A few months ago I went over to my dads shop to mill all the wood so I could take it back to my house and finish everything up. At this point I'm working on cutting all the pieces to size and gluing up the thicker and wider boards. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Looking nice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Looking great so far and I'll be following to learn some stuff as I'm just getting started on a platform bed myself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Thanks guys, I'll update this as much as possible with pictures. I'll also post a link later when I get home so you can download the sketchup file if your interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I made a platform bed similar to this although i had the "great" idea to make a center drawer that was the full 78" long. I needed storage for my waterski and curling brooms. This looks like it's going to be far better looking than mine turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 @Chestnut That is a huge drawer! Although mine is not to far off (apx 30 x 58), I didn't realize how big it was in the plan until I actually built it, now I am a little worried about how to make the drawer slides smooth enough that I will be able to move it. Luckily I think we only plan on storing the heavy comforter in there during the summer when its not being used. Here is the link of the SketchUp file for the bed if anyone is interested. https://www.dropbox.com/s/yqb1kr0stu1z0hy/California%20King%20Bed.skp?dl=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteJr Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I have 15 Ash trees I want to saw up and air dry. I'll be looking for someone who has a portable sawmill to come onsite. Nice project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Cut some discs of plywood to use as wheels on all 4 corners of the long center drawer. Then it just rolls in and out. You could stretch a heavy rubber band around the wheel to keep it from marking a hardwood floor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Using wheels is a great idea! I was planning on just doing a long wood slide but I could make the drawer have wheels on it to move on the slide easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Just have a guide rail above the wheel height that is a little thicker than the wheels and any hub/screw etc. Guide rail would have rounder corners and lightly rub on the drawer to keep it centered on its hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Skateboard / rollerblade wheels are good for such. They are generally urathane, and won't scratch hardwood floors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 17 hours ago, Na1han said: @Chestnut That is a huge drawer! Although mine is not to far off (apx 30 x 58), I didn't realize how big it was in the plan until I actually built it, now I am a little worried about how to make the drawer slides smooth enough that I will be able to move it. Luckily I think we only plan on storing the heavy comforter in there during the summer when its not being used. Here is the link of the SketchUp file for the bed if anyone is interested. https://www.dropbox.com/s/yqb1kr0stu1z0hy/California%20King%20Bed.skp?dl=0 I was going to do hardwood waxed bars on the bottom to slide it or UHMW material. I also was going to make a stand that would flip down from the bottom to support the drawer when pulled out to hold it level. The stand would only need to be 3/4" tall so it should be easy. Have the hinge swing towards the back of the drawer so pulling it out stands it up and pushing in folds the stand back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted January 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Chestnut, that flip down stand is a smart idea. If I find the drawer doesn't really support itself I could always add it later. I got some work done on the rails tonight. They ended up being made from 3 maple boards and the walnut inlay. We didn't mill any 6/4 wood when we were on the sawmill so I ended up being able to use a single board for the outside face and edge jointed two boards and glued those to the back of the face board to make it 1.5 inches thick. The corners of the end rail are mitered so I can wrap the face grain around and avoid end grain, I'm hoping that ends up working out. The end rail is joined to the side rails using traditional bed frame metal hooks so it can be broken down to move. I'll work on attaching those once I attach the small mitered pieces to "wrap" the end rail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Looking good! I like the walnut inlay! One question, why do you want to avoid end grain? Im not sure where the whole avoiding end grain school of thought came from but its a weird one. I think end grain is a feature and can look great. Obviously personal taste can come into play here, im just saying don't avoid end grain because you heard that's the way its supposed to be. The issue is that you have now created an end grain to end grain glue joint that could be problematic in the future if unsupported, splined etc. especially if that is going to be the location of your bed bolts. I would be worried that you find that little return on the floor one day. Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Inlay looks sweet! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted January 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Looking good! I like the walnut inlay! One question, why do you want to avoid end grain? Im not sure where the whole avoiding end grain school of thought came from but its a weird one. I think end grain is a feature and can look great. Obviously personal taste can come into play here, im just saying don't avoid end grain because you heard that's the way its supposed to be. The issue is that you have now created an end grain to end grain glue joint that could be problematic in the future if unsupported, splined etc. especially if that is going to be the location of your bed bolts. I would be worried that you find that little return on the floor one day. Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Thanks! That mitered joint has actually been something I have been struggling with a lot during the design. If I left as end grain the walnut inlay would have looked a little weird just stopping there. I tried to see if I could just wrap the walnut around by recessing it into the end grain but I though it looked goofy with the face grain walnut and end grain maple next to each other. Last week I was fortunate enough to have saved enough for a domino, it should be here Monday. I plan joining the small mitered corners with that, hopefully that will be strong enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Looking good! I like the walnut inlay!One question, why do you want to avoid end grain? Im not sure where the whole avoiding end grain school of thought came from but its a weird one. I think end grain is a feature and can look great. Obviously personal taste can come into play here, im just saying don't avoid end grain because you heard that's the way its supposed to be. The issue is that you have now created an end grain to end grain glue joint that could be problematic in the future if unsupported, splined etc. especially if that is going to be the location of your bed bolts. I would be worried that you find that little return on the floor one day. Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Thanks! That mitered joint has actually been something I have been struggling with a lot during the design. If I left as end grain the walnut inlay would have looked a little weird just stopping there. I tried to see if I could just wrap the walnut around by recessing it into the end grain but I though it looked goofy with the face grain walnut and end grain maple next to each other. Last week I was fortunate enough to have saved enough for a domino, it should be here Monday. I plan joining the small mitered corners with that, hopefully that will be strong enough. I totally understand the design issue! Your choice makes sense given the design. I thought you were avoiding end grain because of some weird woodworker tradition. I think adding domino's to that joint will really help. Great choice. Keep up the great work and keep the updates coming! Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 That maple and walnut is going to look nice when you get the finish on it. Project looks great so far, good job. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted March 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2016 Finally have an update on the project. The last couple weeks have been a lot of sanding and surface prep. I have a four day weekend due to Easter and I have been able to get quite a bit done so far. I mounted all the drawer slides and built the spacers to keep the two bottom drawer sections spaced out so the center drawer can fit in between. I also started finishing everything, pictures are below. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Na1han Posted March 31, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Finally starting to see the end! This project has taken far to long but I have learned a ton and really enjoyed it. Installed the reading light last night and started mounting the drawer fronts this evening. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted April 1, 2016 Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 Coming along very nicely! What finish did you use? Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na1han Posted April 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 10 hours ago, shaneymack said: Coming along very nicely! What finish did you use? Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk Thanks! I just used a minwax sanding sealer first (sanded with 320), this maple was pretty blotchy in some other projects. Then 2 coats of 1/3 BLO, 1/3 satin poly, 1/3 mineral spirits (sanded with 500). Then one coat of 1/2 satin poly and 1/2 mineral spirits. I wish I had a buffing wheel or a 1500+ sanding grit to go over it one more time but I think it turned out good enough. The maple sanding to be extremely smooth before I started finishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 1, 2016 Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 Looks pretty good! I like the lights in the headboard. White Scotchbrite pads are pretty fine, brown paper bags are even finer to buff with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 1, 2016 Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 Looks like strong solid construction. If you get that sucker to rocking and squeaking, you're having entirely too much fun 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Na1han Posted April 2, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 Finally done! Well almost, I have to mount some switches to control the reading light, but that's it. This was my first furniture sized piece I have ever done and the first thing I have built that I designed. There are a number of little things I wish would have turned out a little better but it was definitely a learning process and I enjoyed it all. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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