Childern's Nightstands

[puffin]

I'm planning on making some nightstands for my kids. The design is intended to matches their beds. The beds are just basic pine bunk beds. I think I've worked out most of the design and how I'm going to build them. There is one part I'm not 100% sure on is how to attach the horizontal side rails.

I couldn't attach the sketch up file (not sure why) so uploaded a 3/4 view picture of the stand. On the sides (right side of this picture) you'll see 2 horizontal boards. I'm not sure how to attach the horizontal parts of the sides. On the beds they are nailed on. I could do this, I was kind of hoping to avoid that. I was wondering if glue alone would be enough. Its kind of like a half-lap joint so it seems like it might be. Or do I just need to bite the bullet and add some kind of mechanical reinforcement? (nails, screws, dowels etc...)

[Beechwood Chip]

Long grain to long grain glue joints with lots of surface area (like these) are very strong, so you can just glue if you want to.

You could also drill a couple holes through both pieces use dowels. That might make the glue up easier, provide some visual interest, and be a "belt and suspenders" approach to securing the joint.

[Bobby Slack]

Continuing with this reply.

I will call your horizontal pieces "rails" for the purpose of explaining my point.

It looks like the rails are a lap joint with the stiles. So elaborating on this answer ,,, in the inside of the rails with the stiles where nobody can see them, I would insert a couple of dowels/dominos with plenty of wiggle room for adjustment since they are not structural and will allow you room for squaring.

Also you can make those rails as a lamination of two pieces and make it easier on yourself, at the end your kids will ... be kids ... as they should. (climb, jump, throw things on them, etc.)

Long grain to long grain glue joints with lots of surface area (like these) are very strong, so you can just glue if you want to.

You could also drill a couple holes through both pieces use dowels. That might make the glue up easier, provide some visual interest, and be a "belt and suspenders" approach to securing the joint.

[Bobby Slack]

Ah ... one more thing ... pine for kids rooms makes perfect sense to use a soft wood so when they bang their head it does not hurt too much. :lol:

[WoodClips]

How wide are those upper and lower rails? From your drawing, I'm guessing somewhere around six to eight inches?

Once you get past a couple inches, you need to start thinking about accommodating wood movement. An eight inch wide piece may expand up to about a sixteenth of an inch from the driest part of the year to the most humid part of the year. If your joinery doesn't allow it to expand freely, you'll end up with a split board or a failed glue joint. If you are joining two boards with the grain in the same direction, it isn't a problem because they will both expand and contract together. But, if you are joining two boards with grain going perpendicular to each other, it becomes more challenging because the expansion happens along the width of the board but not the length.

Here's one option for joining those rails:

1. Buy a plug cutter like one of these so you can create plugs to cover your screw holes. Go for a larger size like 1/2".

2. Drill two plug-sized holes in the back of the leg--one towards the top of the rail, the other towards the bottom.

3. Apply glue to the upper portion of the rail only. Drill an appropriately-sized pilot hole and screw in the top screw from the back of the leg.

4. Drill an oversized hole for the bottom screw so it has room to move in the hole. Use a washer.

5. Plug the screw holes.

By following the above, the top of the rail will be fixed in place with the glue and the upper screw, but the bottom of the rail remains unglued and the screw has some room to move in the oversized hole, allowing the rail to expand and contract. The plugs cover the screws and are on the inside of the table, so they shouldn't be too visible.

Have you figured out how you'll attach the front and back rail and the the shelf? You want to be thinking about wood movement for these too.

Rory

[puffin]

Pretty much all of the pieces are 6" wide.

Currently, I'm thinking of installing the back rails with dowels.

The front rail is actually a drawer front and isn't attached to the sides. I'm planning on making a basic drawer frame to support the drawer attached to the sides with screws.

The bottom, I was planning on putting it in a dado. I don't think wood movement is too bad down there. If the grain run parallel to the front edge the movement of the bottom and the sides should be in the same direction (front to back).

[puffin]

I appreciate the feedback. I'm still very new to woodworking, and am really just getting started. This will be my first real project and definitely the first I've design from scratch.

I was thinking about what bobby suggested. What if I took a piece between the "stiles" and joined it with dowels, only gluing the top inch or two. The outside rail, could be laminated to the inside and just float or be glued only at the top inch or so.

Interestingly, I did think about wood expansion on the top, bottom and back rails. I didn't really think about it on the side rails since the beds I'm modeling these after have almost the same design accept the rails appear to be nailed in place rather than glued. We've had them for a few years without issue.

At any rate, please feel free to keep the feedback coming, its really helping me learn.