philmo11

This project took about 80 hours to complete. I started with a pile of Hemlock 4"x4"s. I built a 10' lathe and mounted a 1/2" router to it so I could very slowly carve out the logs. I pinned it together using 4" x 7/8" dowel rod and 8D finishing nails. If anyone wanted to try a project like this here are a few pointers

1. drill your holes before you lathe the wood.

2. wait until after you have assembled the frame to make the spindles. a very small variation in the diameter of the logs will make a big differnce in the length of the spindles.

3. Routers are not built for wood to spin under them. get a firm grip on the router and make short runs the lenght of the wood. turn it a little more on each pass. Routers are very powerful, make sure they are bolted down to the guides well or it will get away from you.

4. 45 degree the coners of the wood before attempting to turn it. The less wood the bit can grab a hold of the less likely it is to get away from you.

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Streamwinner

Wow, that's really nice. Do you plan on making a canopy? I know you wouldn't really want to hide those beautiful logs, but that looks like it could be the ultimate fort/playhouse.

Daren

Nice bed. Thanks for taking the time to explain the process of making it I am sure it will help others in the future should they want to make something similar/the way you did.

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Kenbo

That is one sturdy looking bed. They could jump on that until they were 20 years old and it would still look great. Fantastic job.
Make sure to put your name and date somewhere on the bed so that future generations will know it's history.
Do you have any pictures of the lathe/router set up? That sounds interesting.
Ken

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philmo11

What I liked about this design was that it was open and did not block out any of the light. Yet all of the log structure around it gives them a sense of security. It apparently works because every night it has been standing they have slept in their own bed. The bed I had in there before, you couldn't force them to stay in it. In fact, the toddler beds I had in there were never slept in, not once.

philmo11

I will try to get a couple of pictures of it tonight. It cost about $120 to build -router/bit $99/$40, but I can turn up to 10' long and/or 12" round.

Funny you metion jumping, thats exactly what they are doing every night I come home

Diver Doug

great job with this ! Which stain/oil did you use on it?

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philmo11

No stain it's all natural, Hemlock has a great variation in color, natural. I used Miniwax Clear poly thinned to 2/3 strength so it would soak into the wood better. The darker pieces are actually the core of the tree which really has a beautiful stained look just by applying clear coat, some of the wildest grain patterns too. The one I made for my nephew is all Hemlock core wood. The more red that is in the wood the darker brown it will turn. The further out you get in the rings the more the wood looks like standard Pine, close enough you can't really tell it isn't.

By the way after I let them help build it, Max got a hold of one of Daddy's hammers and decided to build on it some more, got little dent marks down one of the side rails. Little turd. Good thing Hemlock is fairly hard or it could have been much worse.

philmo11

By the way, here is another note for anyone interested, I built my desk from pine 4x4's using a drawknife to carve out the logs, labor intensive but looks great hand carved. I originally attempted to do this on my nephews bed, the first one I made from Hemlock.

Golden monkeys will fly out of your behind before you will get a drawknife down a core piece of Hemlock Fir, you will destroy the blade and the wood trying it. The core wood is so hard that it is almost brittle. It is at least as hard as the Red Oak you see in the background around the window. I cut clean through 2 new 50 grit belts on my sander in seconds when I attempted to sand down the sharp edges fresh out of the table saw. That's why I built the lathe. Belt sanding after lathing will work and give you a near-hand cut look if that is what you are after.

red

Very nice work.

Red

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