Hi everyone
I am making two beds for my children. They are queen size, and both ends of the bed have a horizontal rail connected to a curved rail at the top with tapered spindles. The curved rail is 1 3/4" wide and 1 1/2" high. The horizontal rail is 1 3/4" wide by 6" high. The wood is cherry. The spindles will be between 16 and 20" long, and will go all the way through the curved rail at the top and be wedged. The current sketch of the design has 13 spindles at each end of the bed. The bed legs are 1 3/4" square. The straight lower rail will be joined to the leg with a mortise and tenon. The curved rail will have a bridle joint and the top of the leg will be curved to match the curve of the rail.
My question is this: what diameter should the spindles be? I was thinking 5/8" at the bottom and 3/8" at the top, and would make sure the grain is nice and straight with no runout. I have made a couple of test spindles and that size/taper looks nice and feels quite strong. I thought I would get a second opinion though and ask here: Do you think that size spindle be strong enough, or should I make them thicker (say 3/4" tapering to 1/2")? Did I give enough information to answer the question?
Thanks!
Noel