Help with proportions for new bed design

[Michael Donahue]

Hey folks. I'm planning to build a bed out of knotty pine to go with a few pine projects I've finished recently. I have an idea how I want to do it (as you can see in the sketchup pic) but I'm not 100% sure of the proportions so I was hoping you could help me out. As I've shown it in the picture: the legs are 1" thick, the bed is a queen, the headboard can't be more than 4' high, I've allowed for 2.75" rails and stiles and 5.5" wide material most other places.

Some things are going to be limited by my tools and materials. I can't get decent pine thicker than 5/4 anywhere locally (at least to the best of my knowledge) so I was thinking 1" thick legs. I'm not sure if I want to laminate the legs to make them thicker or not. I'm limited by a 13" planer and a 18" drum sander so I can't really do panels wider than I can get through my sander. That left me here with 3 panels about 14" wide. Also, do you think 3/4" material will be suitable for the rails and stiles or do I need to go thicker?

I appreciate any tips or advice you can give me, especially along the lines of proportions and design. As I've progressed though woodworking, I've certainly come to understand that just because you can build something one way, doesn't mean it will look just right when you're done!

[Stephen Musial]

Out of curiosity, how old are you?

Why do I ask? Well, to put it delicately, how much activity will the bed see? Personally, I'd be worried about the leg thickness and leg to rail joint due to, ummm, movement...especially with pine. Also, use good screws to hold the rail fasteners - you don't want to shear them at an inopportune time (DAMHIKT)

[Michael Donahue]

Out of curiosity, how old are you?

Why do I ask? Well, to put it delicately, how much activity will the bed see? Personally, I'd be worried about the leg thickness and leg to rail joint due to, ummm, movement...especially with pine. Also, use good screws to hold the rail fasteners - you don't want to shear them at an inopportune time (DAMHIKT)

The bed will see some moderate activity I suppose, because I'm 27 and a big guy (6'5" and 250ish) who rolls around alot. Let's leave it at that

Think laminated legs would be a better idea? Maybe 1.5" or so? What if I epoxy the screws in for the rail fasteners?

[Stephen Musial]

I'd definitely laminate 2 5/4 pieces for the legs and be sure the joint is reinforced. For the rail connection, I ended up drilling out the countersink a little more and using Primegauard deck screws.

[Darius Ferlas]

+1 for laminated legs, at least 1.5" even if, depending on the method you use to join the elements, you may not need laminated legs for strength. I just think 1" legs would look kinda skinny whith the raised panel in the background.

Rail and stile thickness will depend on what bits you have available. Most less expensive ones are designed for 3/4 to 7/8" material. You can always do a backing lamination of the rail and stile elements (perhaps even of the panels) on the other side of the headboard. That would give you extra rigidity too.

[Michael Donahue]

+1 for laminated legs, at least 1.5" even if, depending on the method you use to join the elements, you may not need laminated legs for strength. I just think 1" legs would look kinda skinny whith the raised panel in the background.

Rail and stile thickness will depend on what bits you have available. Most less expensive ones are designed for 3/4 to 7/8" material. You can always do a backing lamination of the rail and stile elements (perhaps even of the panels) on the other side of the headboard. That would give you extra rigidity too.

My rail and stile set is made by freud and my panel raiser has a back cutter. If I could get away with 3/4" rails and stiles I think that would be easiest because I think the bits are geared for that. Then again, I think I can remove the backcutter and I'd cut my rails and stiles on my table saw (want those square anyway). What if my rails and stiles were 1" centered on the legs that could be 1.5"? That should be pretty rigid with the cap across the top I would think.

As far as bed connecters, I was thinking of heavy duty door hinges fastened with deck screws. The mattress should keep everythink pretty square I'd think.

Thanks again for all of the help folks!

[Chris Friesen]

Personally I like the look of thicker legs on a bed. I used spruce for mine (started out as clear-ish construction lumber) and laminated 2 thicknessof of 2x6. They ended up just shy of 3x4 or so. The side rails are 1.5x8.

For fastening the rails, I made a shallow mortise/tenon (1/4" long or so) to hold things in place, then I used big bolts through the legs with nuts embedded in the rails.

[Matt Meiser]

I agree on the thicker legs. I'm going thin on a headboard because of space considerations but we are using a metal frame and the headboard won't be load-bearing.

Even then with pine I'd be worried about strength with with the rails and rail-to-headboard/footboard joint. Screws pull out of pine easily and it splits easily. One idea would be to use metal rails or another would be to make them from something strong, like maple, and veneer the visible sections with a thinner veneer of pine. You could also inlay a piece of maple in the leg where the rails meet up, even hiding it again by veneering the front of the post with pine.

[David Gilbert]

I have another comment about your bed design. The legs at the foot of your bed will take some getting used to. By this I mean that you and many others who walk around the bed will stub their toes until they learn where the bed feet are.

I built a bed for my daughter and her husband and they didn't want a foot-board to match the head-board. The end of their bed is essentially the same design as yours so you should be careful with your toes. We have a four poster bed and others with shorter foot-boards (36 inches high) and rarely stub my toes since the higher pieces remind me of the part of the post near the floor. I don't have a good solution to this problem except to build a foot-board. Moving the legs underneath the bed will protect your toes but change the design and complicate the construction significantly.

Our library has a book on building beds (Taunton Press??) that gives some useful scaling and size information. The bed that I built was all out of five quarter red oak and I reinforced the rails so the bottom of each rail was over two inches thick. I think it's better to over design a bed to prevent it breaking and possibly injuring someone. Remember that there are more accidents in the bedroom than in almost any other room in the house.

Cheers,
David