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Beds and Bedhead

It started with a King size Mission-style bed I built 25 years ago ...





Lynndy had two complaints: firstly, she is an extremely light sleeper and would wake if I so much as twitched or rolled over. I had attempted to deal with this by including twin mattresses, which could be pulled apart (by an inch), if she felt disturbed.

…….. As an aside, it is amazing the number of friends of ours who complain of the exact situation. Their solution is to play musical beds in separate bedrooms. They are not happy. This is a big reason I have posted this build….

Secondly, Lynndy is the main bed-maker (I do make it as well. I promise). The high tailboard makes this a difficult and extra-physical process. She wanted a bed without a tail board.

What did I want? A happy wife? Okay, and a more modern-looking bed. I was over the heavy Mission style.

I built two single beds, which could be used as a single, kingsize bed. Here is one ..

The slats are a T-section, which makes for a very rigid structure ...






... and screwed down for extra strength.

The key feature was the absence of any lips on the inside edges which would impede the mattresses. They slide together and feel like one. They can be pulled away, again by an inch, and this isolates vibrations (= happy wife).

Now the secret to making a double bed out of two singles lies with the rails. The slats on the outer sides are lower by 6mm (1/4") to aid in preventing the mattress slipping off the base, but also low enough to make it easier to tuck in sheets, etc.




The slats on the inside rails are flush with the top ...

In line with isolating vibration, the headboard could not be connected to the beds. It will be, instead, attached to the wall behind the beds. So, we have two beds sans headboards.

Creating hidden bed bolts

The corner joinery involved loose tenon using the Domino DF500 to create the mortices.

The rails are 125mm x 26mm. The mortice is 115mm x 10mm ...

These are the bed ends. It is relevant to note, as the tenons extend just 28mm into the end rails, they are not in danger of coming apart from the posts. The stresses (racking) will be on the side rails. In any event, the tenons will also be pinned.



The challenge now is to hide the bed bolts which will connect the side rails. Generally, the bolts run through the post and terminate in the side rail. My aim was to retain the clean, uncluttered line of the tapered posts. There are mechanical fasteners available, but I have used these in the past and the lighter, single beds are vulnerable to racking in my experience.

The end result needed to look like this ...

I began by adding double 40mm x 10mm wide x 12mm deep mortices in the posts ...

These were initially made with the Domino, and then the ends squared with a chisel. Why squared? Because I find it easier to fit tenons exactly when they are squared than when they are rounded.

The tenons were planned to be 10mm x 10 mm. These were made with a router and a simple fence ...

The fence is positioned by a depth stop (top left).



... flipped, set up, and routed again ...



Saw and chisel to a matching fit ...



The ground work is set for the bed bolt. Insert a dowel centre between the tenons ...



Insert the tenon end into the mortice end, and this will mark to position where the bolt will go ...


Drill and insert a steel thread (wet the wood to make tapping easier) ...



I am using a M8 stainless steel bolt (cut the head off) ..



A short pilot hole is drilled, using a Stanley #59 dowel guide ..



This is extended with a long 6mm drill bit, taking care to aim for a slight angle towards to inside face. The reason for the slight angle is to reduce the depth for the bolt. The bolt hole is widened to 9mm.

The bed bolt extends to the centre of these two forstner-made holes.


Smaller holes are added for a spanner, and the end is squared for a washer and nut.

Before final assembly, he bolts are fixed into inserted metal threads in the posts permanently with Loctite. The post and rail are locked with double loose mortice-and-tenons (no glue) and then bolted in the rail ...

Laminating curved slats for a headboard

It was a bitter-sweet task to pull apart the old headboard ...





I recall making this, 25 years ago, in the 10 days my wife was away visiting her mother. I wanted it to be a surprise on her return. I got it done the night before her return ... sweating and swearing as I struggled to fit the slats into their mortices, align all, and pull together the glued mortice-and-tenon joints in this impossibly-heavy-for-one-person Jarrah beast. But there is no point in keeping it, and a lot of good Jarrah to re-use.

There are 13 x 12mm thick and 50mm wide slats ..



The plan was to re-saw them into three equal slices and then laminate them into a curve for the headboard ..




Each slice came out at a smidgeon over 3mm. This should end up about 9.5mm or 3/8".

The headboard is to be attached to the wall. It will have a mortice-and-tenon frame, with curved vertical slats. Where previously the slats were 50mm wide (for a Mission-style bed), these will each be re-sawn into two, making them around 24mm wide. There will be 26 slats in all, with the thinner slats now offering a more modern look.

The frame will be cut from the 100x100mm bed posts. The profile from the side is something like this (will be tweaked) ...


Making templates for bending ...




Each of the templates - there are 6 in all - are covered in packing tape for release, and screwed to a backing board to keep all square ...




Even with 3mm sections, the combination is pretty stiff, but responds to clamping ...




The plan is to glue using two-part West Systems epoxy. I think that epoxy is a better choice here than a glue such as Titebond as it will create a rigid setting, one with minimal springback. I am using the fast setting (8 hour) hardener as I have no desire to be doing this all for many days on end.




Now a question I have is in regard to the re-sawn slats: these are straight off the bandsaw and have not been planed or sanded. The leaves are too thin to send through a thickness-planer … and I do not have a thickness sander. The finish I have is decent insofar as the leaves are even in thickness and all appear straight. My plan is to add a dark brown tint to the epoxy, which should hide anything showing at the edges ...









Your thoughts on this? Is the tinted epoxy going to create a good finished section, or must the leaves be sanded?


Ready to go tomorrow ..






Secondly, to have a modern version of a Mission-style bed for the bedhead. The old slats were re-sawn and laminated to create a slight curve ...






As the straight rails connected to curved posts, there was shaping to do to blend them together ..







The bedhead was also to be hung using French Cleats. It was important, when all was said and done, that the posts lay flat against the wall. The top rail at the rear of the bedhead was lower, and the French Cleat would fit here ...





One complication here is that the cleats needed to be shaped to fit the taper of the rails. Taper here ..





The cleat ran from 150mm inside the posts to provide some positioning options, if needed (cleat seen at top - the bottom piece is for the wall) ..





It is difficult to photograph the bedhead and capture the angles and detail as the wood is dark, and the lighting in my workshop is not great. But here is the bedhead on the bench ...





The curve is gentle but more evident in person. Not so evident here ...



The slats look like a one-piece. The laminations are not evident ...





And on the bedroom wall ...





At the rear of the frame can be seen the French Cleat, and also some of the fine details not evident before: the surround has a 6mm chamfer; all the other edges had the edges broken with a block plane (i.e. very fine) to retain the clean lines internally.





The bedhead closer up ...





... and the complete build ...




Happy wife. Happy life. 

Regards from Perth

Derek

January 2023