Queen Size Bed Extra length build.

[Aubrey Kloppers]

Hi Guys
I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I am busy building a "Queen Size Bed Extra length" and need some help as I go along.

I got access to a whole bunch of logs that gets used to stack plywood at my local supplier. These I am busy planing flat and square to first of all use for the legs. As they are 1200mm (Yes I am from South Africa) and I am going to need 1520mm as this is the standard width for queen sized beds. (Later on the length of 2000mm).

These are the logs I am getting for free. They are roughly 75mmx75mmx1200mm:
beam stacks raw.jpeg

This is what it looks like when I am done:
beam 1.jpeg

This is a stack of them with two of the 1200mm joined to create a length of +/- 2300mm:
Beams planed.jpeg

I am getting 'some' cup/bow in the wood once planed, but found it to be very little. The beams are all made from the "core" of a tree and I believe once glued-up, I will not have anymore problems.

New Workbench side project:
Here is the side-project I glued up and the wood is staying quite stable. What I did was to plane 8 pieces and then laminated them in pairs. I then took the 4 pairs and re-planed them. Then I laminated the 4 pairs to create a slab of 8 pieces. I then hand-planed the slab and got it quite flat:
Top 1.JPG Top 2.JPG
I still need to cut the sides and wall-mount it for my Woodwork-Workbench...

kind regards
aubrey

[Pat Barry]

This is a stack of them with two of the 1200mm joined to create a length of +/- 2300mm:
Beams planed.jpeg

How are you joining the pieces to make them longer? What type of joint (overlap, bridle, scarf, etc)? Obviously you will need a substantial / strong joint. That, to me, means a lot of overlap in the lengthwise aspect of the joint in each of the joined pieces. You said two 1200's got you a 2300. Thats only an overlap of 50 mm (2 inches). I don't think that's enough. My thought would be to get at least an overlap of around 200 mm (8 inches). At a minimum at least 2 1/2 time the thickness of the joined pieces. Curious what others think of this?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I am with Pat on this one, those end joints will not hold.

This seems a little crazy and I have no idea if this is practical, but, what it you

1. Choose four boards.
2. join two boards end to end as you did.
3. Cut one of the boards in half.
4. Join a half, full, half end to end.
5. Lay these two next to each other and glue those together.

I suppose another option is to make sure that you have a support under the point where you joined the boards end to end. If you were creative, you might even devise a system where you need not join the boards. It would look odd having a bed with six feet though. I vaguely remember seeing some bed with a center support right in the middle of the mattress, so that would make 5 feet on the bed, but you cannot see that middle foot.

If you want to get away from a "standard" looking bed, you could also just build drawers as the base of the bed that would also support the mattress; then the end to end joint would be mostly unimportant.

Sorry, rambling, but that joint just does not feel to me like it would be sufficiently strong.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Aubrey,

You do not mention if you have a way to resaw these pieces. You also do not show your design, so it is difficult to accurately comment on what you are going to encounter.

As others have mentioned the joint you have between the boards may not be strong enough if it needs to carry any weight.

An old post of mine shows a pretty simple bed design:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...0-Platform-Bed

So far it has been doing well for seven years.

jtk

[Stewie Simpson]

The following is a King Size Bed Base I rebuilt 5rs ago.

[Aubrey Kloppers]

Hi Guys
I am using LAP joints. The long lengths is not going to "structurally" hold any weight. The places where the joint sits will be the support in the middle of the headboard. I am also using Ana White's example of her farmhouse style queen-sized bed. I would like to stay away from the "pocket screw" way and rather join with glue/dowel...

I am also thinking that at this stage of the game, seeing that I have so many of these beams (more than 100), I could be thinking of gluing 4 of these posts together, making sure that the joins are well removed from one another and then cutting them thinner and in such a way create a better structure.

Early days still, but I will keep you updated