A Crib For My New Daughter

[Trever Williams]

Marry Christmas everyone! I just finished a project and I wanted to share:



My new baby girl is going to need a place to sleep when she gets here so I built a crib for her. She’s not due until February but my wife said she wanted it to be done by Christmas so I’ve been burning the midnight oil to make it happen. Looks like I made it just in the nick of time.

I built it so that it will be convertible to a little toddler day bed and then to a twin size bed. I used my other daughter’s crib as a guide to make sure it came out the right size and shape and then added a few decorative curves and contours of my own to make it unique.

The wood is curly maple. I read a lot about finishing curly maple and practiced on a lot of scraps, and this is the finishing schedule I came up with:

- Sand to 150
- Dye with a dark heavy coat of Transtint dark mission brown
- Sand to 150 again
- Dye with a lighter coat of dark mission brown
- Lightly sand with 320
- Coat with 4 coats of Waterlox original

I’m pretty happy with the way the finish turned out. The pictures don’t really do it justice. It’s a little glossy for bedroom furniture though. There’s still a little time before the baby gets here so I’m considering coating it with a couple of coats Waterlox satin finish but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m not sure how it will affect the chatoyance.

For my next project I’m going to build a curly maple dresser to match. I’m going to take my time on it though. I enjoy woodworking a lot more when I’m not rushing to meet a deadline.
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[Trever Williams]

A few more pics:
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[Trever Williams]

And a few more:
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[Dave Shute]

Awesome crib man!!! I built a crib for my first grandson four years ago out of hard maple, but not curly. Looks like a real nice finish on it. I for one can appreciate all the work you put into that.

[Joe Pfeifer]

Great looking crib. Just a word of advice on the crib bumpers- most pediatricians recommend against using them because they are a suffocation hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is re-evaluating the risks associated with them in light of recent tragic accidents.

[gary Zimmel]

Nice work on the crib Trever, real nice... You got to love that curly maple.

[Bruce Page]

Trever, the love & care is obvious in that piece but you finished it way to early.
You’re supposed to be burning the midnight oil well into February. That’s how I'd do it anyway..

Beautiful work and some really gorgeous curly maple.

Congrats on the upcoming addition to your family!!

[Larry Edgerton]

Beautiful job! Congradulations.

[Dave Verstraete]

Great looking crib. Your own plans? I need to start on one soon for a nephew's child-to-be.
Thanks

[Jamie Oren]

Trever. That looks great. I am getting ready to start mine this week any tips on the curved top?

[Trever Williams]

Great looking crib. Your own plans? I need to start on one soon for a nephew's child-to-be.
Thanks

Dave, they were kinda my own plans. My other daughter has a store bought convertible crib that we got from babies R us. I measured it to get the overall size and shape and then added a few curves and contures of my own. I drew the plans up in AutoCAD. You can PM me if you want me to send you a copy.

[Trever Williams]

...any tips on the curved top?

Jamie, for the molding on top of the head board I laminated two 7/8" thick boards together to make a 7/4" thick board. Then I cut the curve shape out on a bandsaw and used a 3/4" roundover bit to round the corners. Then I used slot cutting bit to machine a 3/4" slot along the inside of the curve so that it slid right on to the head board. It all went pretty smooth and easy.

[Curtis Horswill]

Trevor, very nice crib, I love the selection of wood and finish. One question, did you cut a tenon on the slats or do they fit right into the mortises on the rails? I am working on a crib project right now.

[Trever Williams]

One question, did you cut a tenon on the slats or do they fit right into the mortises on the rails?

Curtis, they fit right into the mortises. I cut them a little bit oversized and then sanded the ends of each one down so that they fit nice and tight in the mortises and didn't have any sloppy gaps. That was by far the most time consuming part of the project. The crib has 38 slats so that means there were 76 ends to sand down. In retrospect it would have been faster to cut tenons on the slats because the shoulders would cover up any gaps. But I don’t know how you would do that on the slats that join up with the curved parts of the rails. I guess you could do tenons on the ones that join up with the flat surfaces and not on the ones join up with curved parts and that would save some time.

[Greg Cuetara]

Very good looking crib. I like the curly maple and the finish that you used. It will sure last a lifetime. I had to put my crib up last weekend...kinda sad to see all that effort just sit there but it will get used again and hopefully again after that.

on a side note be careful about using the bumpers in the crib. I know a lot of things now are frowned upon with kids but this is one I think makes a lot of sense...the kids roll over into the bumper and then can't breath and they can't roll back over...not a good thing. Again no clue how we survived as kids with the toys they have banned and what we are supposed to do and not supposed to do as parents. The only thing you can do is use your best judgement for yourself and your family.