D&W King Bed - Walnut & White Oak


Eric.

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Much to be proud of in that build. The woods are exquisite and the craftsmanship is superb.

I thought of something my father always said when ever we noticed a mistake in our work...and there always was one. "The next one of these we do will be perfect." Then we laughed..knowing the joke was, we will likely never do one of these projects again and it was our way of accepting it being close to perfection.

Accept it. It's beautiful.

 

 

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extraordinary! the wood is extra special!! the craftsmanship is at the top!!

i am amazed, continually at the level of craftsmanship on this forum - it is a special place!

(the "tips, tricks," that people have are worth the price of admission.) LOL

the story behind the bed is worth saving - somehow?, -photo's, dialogue, you get what i am saying.

the wrassler's would be thrilled with that 40 or so years from now, i am sure.

very nice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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TMI alert:

Gave this beast the official stress test last night.  Not the slightest complaint from the bed.  Absolutely solid.  Should easily last us the rest of our lives.

The next time I go to rotate the mattress I'm gonna put my socket on the bed bolts and find out if and how much they loosened.  Will report back.

I think the bed bolt system I used is the way to go...absolutely rock solid and costs you about three bucks to make.  Highly recommend it over Rockler hardware and the like.

 

 

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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6 hours ago, Marmotjr said:

Maybe someday I can craft one myself. 

 

Honestly - there's nothing all that technically challenging in this project.  If you can build a frame and panel cabinet door, you can build this bed.  Mortise and tenon, frame and panel, a few easy curves...that's it.  Now, the sheer size of the parts does pose some challenges.  A small shop means constantly moving things around.  Glue-up is tricky.  Lots of material means lots of surface prep and finishing.  Yawn.  Patience is required.  But it's not a difficult build in terms of construction.  Straight forward, basic stuff.  The cost of materials is probably a bigger hurdle for more people than the work itself.  Give it a whirl.  The only thing stopping you is your own will. :)

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1 hour ago, K Cooper said:

Eric, the night stands, I remember the thread but couldn't find it. What wood did you use for them? They look great along side the bed. 

Thanks man.  I actually think they conflict a little, at least in style.  The bed is heavy and masculine, while the nightstands are feminine and graceful.  But I don't care...my entire house is a hodge-podge of styles and species with no consistent theme.  I just go where the wind blows me. :D

 

 

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1 minute ago, Chet K said:

I have finally come to the decision that I am going to build projects because I want to, not because they will match other piece in the house... Screw it I will find a place for it when it is done. :P

Amen.

I'm just interested in too many different styles to be tied down to a single one.  I prefer to play the field. :)

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3 hours ago, K Cooper said:

Wife gets wind of this and it might be the last time you test the durability of your king size bed;)

Unless she's an engineer, then it will be a test to failure scenario.   Alas though, it will include spreadsheets and interns. 

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Are we still talking about furniture? :D

Nah, she knows I'm a one woman man.  I got nowhere to go but down when it comes to her.  I married up...way out of my league.  I'm very persuasive, and she was young and impressionable. LOL

I'll stick to being promiscuous with furniture and leave the ruined lives to other dudes with less sense.

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Man, Eric! That thing is gorgeous. And the hardware system for attaching the rails and head/footboards looks like it really is the way to go.

 

A couple of summers ago I made a beast of a bed on commission. I wasn't too confident in the mortised-in bedrail hooks I got from Rockler, they seemed like they could shear off under any lateral pressure (if, say, you were to try to scoot the footboard by itself and the headboard decided to stay put.). It was my first bed, though, and they did the job well enough - but considering the absurd sturdiness of the rest of the bed, they seemed underwhelming. I haven't heard any complaints from the couple I sold that king sized oak behemoth to, but the rail fasteners are its weak point, if there is one weak point on it. I'm guessing that integral tenons would work just as well, and dominos were used to save time, right? I have plenty of time, but little money. Green Kool-Aid is expensive!

 

And yes - heirloom project indeed! It will beget and then be passed down to many generations. You should start a family tradition of burning in the name and date of conception of the next heir of the bed in a list beneath your signature.

 

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10 minutes ago, Denette said:

I'm guessing that integral tenons would work just as well, and dominos were used to save time, right?

Absolutely.  The main reason I used the Domino is because I have no convenient way to make tenons at the end of a long board...and there were SEVEN long boards to create tenons on in this bed.  Doing them by hand was my only alternative to the Domino...but having the Domino accessible to me made it a no-brainer.  For a split second I considered routing the mortises in the rail ends and using shop-made loose tenons...but when I envisioned that process (with me on a ladder routing the end of a 6' long board), I decided against it.  A twenty minute drive and a hand shake with my buddy, and I had Domzilla strapped in the passenger seat.

But using tradition integral tenons would not only be acceptable, they would be ideal.  Just a little more challenging and time consuming...but totally doable.

10 minutes ago, Denette said:

You should start a family tradition of burning in the date of conception of the next heir of the bed in a list beneath your signature.

That's a cool idea.

Edit...I just realized I said exactly what you said. LOL Deleted.

@Denette

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I tried a tenon jig on the tablesaw once to cut tenons on long board ends. Even with a 16 ft ceiling it's scary & wobbly. Never again ! Dowels would mean trying to drill large holes straightly into end grain , just as difficult as routing a tenon from a ladder.   My Festool rep will loan me a tool for a few days to try it out or let me play for an hour or so if it's real popular, but he doesn't have a retail showroom. 

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I tried a tenon jig on the tablesaw once to cut tenons on long board ends. Even with a 16 ft ceiling it's scary & wobbly. Never again ! Dowels would mean trying to drill large holes straightly into end grain , just as difficult as routing a tenon from a ladder.   My Festool rep will loan me a tool for a few days to try it out or let me play for an hour or so if it's real popular, but he doesn't have a retail showroom. 

 

I've used my Dewalt 621 plunge router horizontally for loose tenons before. I made an auxiliary fence out of ½" MDF that was about 8"x5", which gave it plenty of stability. I used clamps as stops on the left and right, and just left the plunge loose as I moved back and forth, applying a little more pressure with each pass. It worked very well for me.

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