[Masterjer]

So I have been planning this build for 6 months, my teenage daughter has been patiently waiting for me to get started on this project. With the wife and kids out of town for 2 days, it was the perfect opportunity for me to get started. This is my first build thread and it feels really good to be in the shop making dust. I especially enjoy the problem solving aspects of design and construction.

I am fairly new to WW so this is a huge build for me and I will encounter a lot of firsts for me.

The first thing I learned is that the electrical going to my shop (more if a shed really) is wholly inadequate. I tripped the breaker several times running my TS and small dust collector at the same time. I finally did something bad to the circuit and have no electricity at all on one of the circuits. Not wanting to waste the opportunity of the house to myself, I ran an extension cord from the house and proceeded to cut some wood.

Here is the first of 2 rails for the bed. I am building this thing to be substantial and to last a long time. The frame is 6/4 hard maple with 3/4 for the panels. This was my first time making a tongue and groove joint, and while its not perfect, I'm happy with the results.

I also got a lot done on the foot board. Also 6/4 maple with ply for the panel. I also used a lock miter bit (first for me as well) to join 4" square posts. Every time I used the router with this huge lock miter bit, my lights kept flickering. I had an electrician on the way to upgrade to 240v and to make sure the electrical service is adequate.

I found that my router table was not very accommodating to such a large bit, so I used sort of a sub table under my fence so I could get the edge of the bit below the piece I was routing. What a pain.

I started on the headboard and used blind Dadoes cut on the TS to receive a ply panel for part of the footboard, I then cut Dadoes in the 6/4 pieces to go above and below the panel.

Here's most of the footboard. On top of the posts, I'm going to put a cap piece, then attach octagonally tapered posts. I'm a little leery about making these, but I have a good idea for some jigs that should work well.

I'm looking forward to getting more shop time this weekend and ill keep adding to my thread.

I know several forum members work with small shops, but mine is ridiculous. 11' wide by 15' long. I have to start my ripping cuts from outside the door and then move into the shop because I can't rip an 8' long board in the shop. It's a real pain.

Jeremy

 

[Masterjer]

And by the way, I LOVE my new TS. I had a 15 yr old fold up contractors type saw I've used forever, but I knew I needed to upgrade in order to tackle this type of project. I found a Jet Pro Shop on CL and I couldn't be happier.

I made the mistake that so many others have made by buying cheap tools just to get by. I am now in the process of slowly replacing the inadequate tools I've acquired.

 

[Tony B]

Nice work.
I'm looking forward to the updates

 

[cps]

It looks like you are on your way to a fine piece of furniture. I can relate to your story as I am in the finishing stages of a bed I am building for my just turned teenage daughter. I actually started planning it in January and also acquired a new table saw before the build. I will post pictures in a new thread after I am complete. While I will probably never to a true "build thread" (I don't like people "watching" when I do things), I do really appreciate those who do.

 

[Masterjer]

Cps, thanks for the response. I'd love to see photos of what you've come up with so far. I know my 13 yr old daughter is excited to see the little progress I make each day and that keeps me motivated to work long and hard on it.

I have learned so much from this forum and really appreciate the experienced posters who are so willing to share their knowledge.

 

[cps]

Cps, thanks for the response. I'd love to see photos of what you've come up with so far. I know my 13 yr old daughter is excited to see the little progress I make each day and that keeps me motivated to work long and hard on it.

I have learned so much from this forum and really appreciate the experienced posters who are so willing to share their knowledge.

I added a few pictures including a SketchUp drawing....I hope to be done in a few weekends. Here is the album:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/members/cps-42222/albums/painted-faux-panel-bed/

When I complete the project, I will post a new thread.

 

[Masterjer]

Cps, the bed is beautiful! What type of wood did you use? I love the curve at the bottom of the footboard.

 

[cps]

Cps, the bed is beautiful! What type of wood did you use? I love the curve at the bottom of the footboard.

It's poplar and 1/2 plywood for the faux panel backer...I wish I used maple or something now, as it dents very easily. I have been painting it in a spare bedroom as it has been way too hot to paint in the garage. I have dented a couple of the pieces going in and out of the house.

 

[patrick2165]

Very nice. How do you like using the mitre lock joint? Difficult?

 

[Masterjer]

The miter lock bit is quite scary. It is a huge bit and I've slowed my router all the way down and it really takes huge chunks out of the wood even taking light passes. I really have to hang onto the work piece. It also makes my shop lights dim every time the bit digs into the wood.

The Freud bit does leave a nice smooth finish and the joint closes up pretty good. Setup was a but tricky but I've got it close enough. I plan to do a small round over on the edges so I'm not concerned that the edge joint isn't perfect. It is also true what they say about you can never have too many clamps. I wish I had more to hold the pieces together while gluing up the miter joint.

 

[patrick2165]

Interesting. I've been wanting to get one since I hate cutting mitres.

As far as set-up goes, have you seen this from Rockler? http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10246&rrt=1

 

[Masterjer]

Interesting. I've been wanting to get one since I hate cutting mitres.

As far as set-up goes, have you seen this from Rockler? http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10246&rrt=1

Thanks for that link. Looks like a great investment. I'll have to see if it works with the Freud bit.

 

[cps]

Cps, the bed is beautiful! What type of wood did you use? I love the curve at the bottom of the footboard.

FYI...finally finished the bed:

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f13/painted-faux-panel-bed-54077/

 

[Masterjer]

I love it. Very elegant. How did you cut the curve on the footboard? I have always had a hard time drawing and cutting a symmetrical curve.

 

[cps]

I love it. Very elegant. How did you cut the curve on the footboard? I have always had a hard time drawing and cutting a symmetrical curve.

I made a board long enough for the radius of the arc with 3 strips of plywood. Screwed in one end of the board to an anchor board in order to create a pivot point. On the end of the radius board, drilled a hole the size of a pencil. The distance from the pivot point the center of the pencil hole was the radius of the arc. I then used this device to draw the arc which I cut out with a jig saw. This picture might help:

 

[Masterjer]

Thanks for the picture. Very helpful. That's one big compass!

 

[Masterjer]

I made a bit more progress today and started on the headboard. I managed to get my electrical to the shop upgraded and that has made a huge difference.

I used the lock miter bit on 5' long posts for the headboard. When I did this on the footboard, I just held on tight to the boards and cringed every time the bit chunked into the board and tried to rip it out of my hands. This time I used feather boards and that made a huge difference.

I added a curve to the top of the headboard and since I don't own an adequate bandsaw, I cut it with the jigsaw and it did a good job.

I have planned to add a cap to the curved head board and am trying my first bent lamination. The cap is 2.5" wide and I cut 1/8" strips on the TS. I only tripped the saws overload circuit 5 times cutting through the 2.5" hard maple, but I made it through it all.

The saw is a champ. I worried about this cut with a 1.75 hp saw. I have a new Forrest ww2 thin kerf blade and that helped.

I learned that you can never have too many clamps and I wished that I had a few more.

 

[Masterjer]

After getting some great help from the forum here, I did a bent lamination for the headboard, which came out really great. I didn't show my daughter the flaws, and I doubt she'll ever notice them.

I then cut my first ever mortises with a hand held router for the bed hardware and installed the hardware in the footboard, headboard, and rails. For the larger flat surfaces of the head/foot board, I traced the mortise locations and just freehand cut with the router.

The rails were a lot trickier since I needed to cut them on the ends of 80" long rails. This is one k this times where I realized it would have been much easier to cut the mortises before assembling the rails. After trying to cut them freehand with the router and failing miserably, I realized that I could just clamp a straight board across the underside of the base plate and use that as a guide along the edge of the rail. This worked very well. I love coming up with simple solutions for difficult problems.

With the hardware installed, I reached a huge milestone and was able to assemble the main bed pieces.

I still need to add caps and feet to the posts, add trim molding, and work on the posts and canopy. I'm really having a great time with this build and learning so much along the way!

 

[cps]

Looking good....How are you going to finish the bed?

 

[Masterjer]

Looking good....How are you going to finish the bed?

Thanks for the comment.

Finishing is my biggest worry. I have been worried about the blotchiness of maple. My daughter wants it dark brown. After lots of reading, I am leaning towards transtint dye sprayed on first followed by a tinted seal coat of thinned lacquer, followed by sprayed on stain and then lacquer for the top coat.