Woodgears bed

[Bombarde16]

I needed a bed for the guest room and I needed it quick.  This is Matthias Wandel's basic 2x4 bed design, executed in queen size and following the "feet hang off the end" variant.  Finished it just in time: I'm out of town for the next week and a half and I have family booked to stay in this room right after I get back.

What more to say about it?  It's solid as a rock and I had it done in a week.

• I picked out the eight best 2x10x8' boards in the bunks at Lowes and ended up only needing five of them.
• Mr. Wandel's design calls for the rails to attach with screws, I splurged on hex bolts and threaded inserts.
• The slats are beyond overkill.  But where Mr. Wandel needed to use up a pile of solid lumber, I needed to use up some plywood.  These are box beams, 3.5" wide by 2" tall.  U-shaped profile (i.e. open on the bottom) and with stiffening ribs each 12".  I can walk on one beam with no flex whatsoever.  Painted with some leftover wall paint from work where a coworker had decorated his office in the colors of what people in Washington seem to think is a football team.
• Clear finish is the house brew of Bullseye shellac, ballpark 4:1 clear to amber.  Mmm, pine plus shellac...

As with any bed build, it's a large project with big pieces that dominate the work space.  For all that, it's a fast build and I'm happy to have it done and ready in time for guests.  2x10's here in southern Pennsylvania are absurdly soft lumber, so it'll get dinged and distressed in no time.  I'm OK with that.  Ten years from now, this will be the sort of piece one throws in a car for the kid to sacrifice to dorm life.  Eventually, I'd like to build a taller headboard.  The current headboard will work better as a footboard and the current footboard can be surplus.

Off to Lowes to return the extra joists and buy some under-the-bed storage totes.

[pkinneb]

Nice! I can't remember the last time i got something done in a week LOL

[RichardA]

A week???? I'm just warming up my thoughts about what I plan to do next week.    To fast  for me.  But, nicely done.

[Bombarde16]

Amazing, isn't it?  A hard deadline always seems to make the work accelerate.

Seriously, though, fast is the only way I could tackle a large-scale project such as this.  The individual parts are so massive that it takes over what small space I have.  Either I get it done quickly or I keep tripping over it everywhere I turn.

[Coop]

Very well done. We just got rid of a bedroom suite, thanks to Harvey, that had a footboard. The new one is a platform bed where my feet can and do, hang off the end. A lot less confining. 

[wdwerker]

Such a sturdy set of slats ! Slight chance it's needed but if no box springs and large guests anticipated well ......

However if its future is in a dorm maybe they are a decent idea. I've never seen finished slats before.

[Bombarde16]

1 hour ago, wdwerker said:

Such a sturdy set of slats ! Slight chance it's needed but if no box springs and large guests anticipated well ......

As I said, it's overkill.  But I wanted to use up some ratty plywood.  Best way I know to make plywood sturdy enough to span any sort of distance is to engineer it into a beam of some sort.  Plus I've got one friend who's pushing 250 pounds.

1 hour ago, wdwerker said:

 I've never seen finished slats before.

Painted for the same reason I paint jigs and shop furniture: It makes things easier to spot in an environment where everything is wood colored.  A layer of paint also helps to lock down any runaway wood fibers that might be considering a bid for splinterhood.  And, most importantly, taking that leftover paint out of play helps ensure that nobody else at work will try to paint a room in Redskins colors.

[wtnhighlander]

On 6/25/2018 at 11:57 AM, Bombarde16 said:

 

Off to Lowes to return the extra joists and buy some under-the-bed storage totes.

I know you are short on time, but Matthias has some nice designs for under bed storage, too.