Bed rail construction

[Michael Merrill]

I'm getting ready to build a maple king size bed as my wife and I cannot find one that we like. I don't have ful plans drawn yet but hope to post those soon for comments.

My plan is to use some 3/4 maple plywood to reduce the overall cost, mixed with solids for legs and other areas, I will use some plywood in the rails, and in the foot and head board area.

My first question is about the construction of the bed rails. My thought on the bedrails is to use a 3/4 maple ply and glue on to the back of that another 3/4 ply of lesser quality veneer. This gives me a sturdy 1 1/2 rail for this king bed. The folks at Rockler suggested a minimum of 1" stock for the rails using their rail fastners. This also gives me a thick solid piece for the boxspring support either metal brackets or dado based wood support. Does this sounds feasable? Problems or concerns with this approach?

I know that I could use nothing but solids but with one piece of quality maple plywood I can greatly reduce the cost of the project. I plan to edge/cap the plywood with more decorative molded maple and purpleheart to match other bedroom pieces.

All ideas are appreciated.

[tod evans]

michael, setting bedrail fastners into plywood isn`t advisable. for your rails use solid stock. ply is a good choice for head-n-footboard panels because you don`t have to worry about movement. instead of "borg" plywood now would be a perfect time to learn some veneering skills, flat panels are the easiest to learn on and by doing it yourself you`ll get really cool figure unavailable mass produced.....02 tod

[Tom Jones III]

I'm not at home so I can't check, but I'm pretty sure that the store bought queen sized bed we have uses plywood for the rails. It seems like it is at least (2) .5" layers of ply glued together. There is a solid wood piece glued and screwed to the rail, this piece actually supports the mattress. If you need more info let me know and I'll get details.

[Ron Blaise]

I'm getting ready to build a maple king size bed as my wife and I cannot find one that we like. I don't have ful plans drawn yet but hope to post those soon for comments.

My plan is to use some 3/4 maple plywood to reduce the overall cost, mixed with solids for legs and other areas, I will use some plywood in the rails, and in the foot and head board area.

My first question is about the construction of the bed rails. My thought on the bedrails is to use a 3/4 maple ply and glue on to the back of that another 3/4 ply of lesser quality veneer. This gives me a sturdy 1 1/2 rail for this king bed. The folks at Rockler suggested a minimum of 1" stock for the rails using their rail fastners. This also gives me a thick solid piece for the boxspring support either metal brackets or dado based wood support. Does this sounds feasable? Problems or concerns with this approach?

I know that I could use nothing but solids but with one piece of quality maple plywood I can greatly reduce the cost of the project. I plan to edge/cap the plywood with more decorative molded maple and purpleheart to match other bedroom pieces.

All ideas are appreciated.

Michael:
If you are buying finished milled Maple I can see why it would cost you quite a bit more. However rough sawed is not that expensive. If you don't have a planer mayby a friend does. Long story short, I would only use solid wood for side boards (just my opinion). I made mine out of 1 1/2" thick x 8" and used Threaded inserts in the bed posts to bolt & pin mine in place. They don't move.
Ron

[Ted Christiansen]

Michael,

I built a sleigh bed for my daughter last year and used hardwood (poplar) for the rails. After planing, the rails turned out to be 15/16" or so. I used traditional bed bolts with pockets in the rails for the nuts. You can see the bolt bolt covers on the ends. I think it adds a nice touch. You can see the sleigh bed here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=28703

For a King Size bed I would use 1-1/4 or 1-1/2 thick (after planing) x 8" tall.

Ted

[Aaron Beaver]

What about glueing (laminating) 2 pieces of 3/4" stock together. Any issues with doing that to get a thicker board?

[tod evans]

What about glueing (laminating) 2 pieces of 3/4" stock together. Any issues with doing that to get a thicker board?

aaron, the only issue i can think of is cosmetic, strength wise you`ll be better off than solid, same with stability...02 tod

[Julio Navarro]

I think the issue would be screwing the harware to the end of a plywood rail. Like Tod said, it doesnt sound particularly strong.

If you join two or more 3/4" poplar and veneer it with your maple you would match the maple you are using for other parts.

[Michael Merrill]

Lots of great feedback here, you all have me thinking.

The fasteners for the bed rails are surface mount not morticed into the end of the rail like some so I would think that the plates would mount fine to the plwood. Here are the items I'm using http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5783

I do have a 12 1/2 planer and I typically purchase rough stock from a local hardwood dealer. One of my thoughts was from a single 4 X 8 of 3/4 maple I could get the two rails (8-10"), footboard panel(8-10"), headboard panel (16") using most all the sheet. I think the high grade maple ply is about $75, making these pieces with solid stock would have to be more at roughly $5.50 bf for maple.

Veneering is new to me, and while I agree the result would be great these are large pieces and I think my first veneer project should be smaller. Not to mention I have no vacuum pump/bag setup and can't justify the cost at this point.

I also think that many masss produced are using some alternative to solid stock that might not even be as good as 2 3/4" pieces of quality plywood glued together.

The minimum would be to use 4/4 solid and laminate two boards together and not have to purchase a bunch of 8/4 stock.

[tod evans]

michael, you`re building this once right? if you like rockler try this hardware;
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10

a fellow doesn`t need vacuum set ups for veneering i hammered veneer for years before getting a bag and in some situations i still do. nonetheless if veneer is intimidating plywood will work well for you panels. but for the structural elements you`ll be smart to use solid stock(yes 4/4 glued together counts as solid)..02 tod

[Gail O'Rourke]

Just my 2 cents here...I have used these brackets from rockler for 2 different beds and they were fine. The rails for these 2 king sized beds are made with 3/4" solid stock. I don't think that you need anything stronger than that - so I wouldn't worry about 4/4 stock so much. if you wanted to use plywood for the rails, you could consider glueing up strips on the back of the rail of solid stock so that it is stronger, with a hardwood cap on the top.

Regarding the supports for the bed, I screwed on supports for cross pieces to the bottom of the rails and then made a center support for the bed.

Hope that helps.

[Ernie Hobbs]

one thing you could do is to use a secondary wood for your rails. The last couple of beds I've made, I used Mahogany or Cherry for the posts and headboard but 2" thick poplar. Since you are using maple, if you use a dye during finishing, it would probably look just about the same and you'd come out a lot cheaper. Here, I pay about $2.50 b.f. for maple but, only $2.50 for poplar. I'd hesitate before using plywood if you intend for it to last a few generations.

[Ben Grunow]

I dunno how big your posts are but maybe you could mortise the entire rail into the post (1 1/2" ply no shoulder tenon)? THis would certainly eliminate any strength concerns and allow you to use the plywood. I would use the traditional bolt and captive nut whatever road you choose. I think they look good and provide more long term durability. Just MHO-good luck.