Top of the....um... afternoon to ya

[Trent Mason]

Hello everyone,

My name is Trent. I'm 28 years old and I live in Wilmington, NC. I was actually invited here from a fellow NC woodworker on another forum. I've been woodworking for about a year now. Before that, I had no experience. I started off building lawn furniture for me and the LOML. Eventually, friends and associates started putting in work orders, so I used that to make a few dollars and learn more about it. I recently completed my first major project, a king-sized platform bed for the LOML and I. Coincidently, it was also my first project with hard/exotic wood. I made it out of jatoba. The design is fairly simple, but still a challenge for a beginner, like me. ;-) If anything, I look at plans for things online to get ideas, but most of my plans are original.

We recently ended up in a situation where we had to find a place to live FAST that allows lots of pets. Unfortunately, I no longer have a shop, but my boss at work lets me keep my tools there and work back in the warehouse whenever I want. Still, it's no fun having to drive all the way across town when I want to build something. :-( So be VERY thankful for your shop!

Other than that, I am an avid surfer. I enjoy playing guitar (mostly blues), the Grateful Dead, UNC Tarheels, Carolina Panthers, Bud Light, running, biking, anything outdoors, and most of all, the LOML.

It's great to be here, I'm really looking forward to meeting you all! :-D

Trent

 

[Bryan S]

Welcome to the site Trent. You'll find a great group of folks here so join right in.

 

[DavidF]

Hello everyone,

My name is Trent. I'm 28 years old and I live in Wilmington, NC. I was actually invited here from a fellow NC woodworker on another forum. I've been woodworking for about a year now. Before that, I had no experience. I started off building lawn furniture for me and the LOML. Eventually, friends and associates started putting in work orders, so I used that to make a few dollars and learn more about it. I recently completed my first major project, a king-sized platform bed for the LOML and I. Coincidently, it was also my first project with hard/exotic wood. I made it out of jatoba. The design is fairly simple, but still a challenge for a beginner, like me. ;-) If anything, I look at plans for things online to get ideas, but most of my plans are original.

We recently ended up in a situation where we had to find a place to live FAST that allows lots of pets. Unfortunately, I no longer have a shop, but my boss at work lets me keep my tools there and work back in the warehouse whenever I want. Still, it's no fun having to drive all the way across town when I want to build something. :-( So be VERY thankful for your shop!

Other than that, I am an avid surfer. I enjoy playing guitar (mostly blues), the Grateful Dead, UNC Tarheels, Carolina Panthers, Bud Light, running, biking, anything outdoors, and most of all, the LOML.

It's great to be here, I'm really looking forward to meeting you all! :-D

Trent

Bud Light?? I can't believe that:lol: With a post title with a vaguely Irish lilt you should be ashamed of yourself:lol:

Welcome to the best WW site on the net.

Oh, BTW, No pics, didn't happen! that bed is currently just a figment of your imagination - lets see it!

 

[sapwood]

Welcome to NCWWer Trent!
It's a amazing woodworking resource and we may be able to provide help on you beer preferences ;-)

Roger

 

[Ray Martin]

Trent,

Nice intro. Unfortunately for you, DavidF is correct... there is no bed we NEED photos.

Welcome again to the NCWW. Since you mentioned meeting some of the others on this forum, we do have a spring picnic coming up. Details will be posted from time time. Smaller / less formal meets take place all over the place. Lunches at various places around the state. Woodworking or tool shows, and so on. You're certainly welcome to announce a lunch / dinner / beer get-together in your neck of the woods.

Ray

 

[christopheralan]

Welcome to another costal ww'er!

 

[woodArtz]

Welcome to the site Trent! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[Partman]

Welcome to the site, Glad to have you.:icon_thum

Danny

 

[DaveO]

Welcome Trent, I am really glad that you could make it over here. Thanks for the intro. I see that we have other interests in common other than woodworking (I've never surfed in my life :lol You really do need to post some pictures of your bed. It's a fine piece of workmanship, especailly for a so called "beginner".
We might have to get together next time I am in Wilmington, and you can help me to convince my FIL that there is other wood in town besides Heart Pine.
I look forward to your input in the forums and seeing more of your work.
Dave

 

[b4man]

Hey Trent!
Welcome to the forum and to echo DaveO please post pix of your work.

 

[BillPappas]

Welcome aboard..it is a great place to learn and contribute.

Regards,

BIll

 

[Trent Mason]

Oh, BTW, No pics, didn't happen! that bed is currently just a figment of your imagination - lets see it!

LMAO! Ask and you shall recieve kind sir.

For years now, I've had a king-sized bed on one of those metal frames. After several moves it was getting pretty bad, so LOML started hinting at building a platform bed (the box springs were getting pretty bad too). So I'd been toying with the idea for about a year or so. I knew I wanted to make something really nice that would last forever. The problem was, I didn't have any money. That all changed about two months ago when I got a second job cooking pizza a few nights a week. I ended up with a bunch of extra money over the holidays and was doing pretty well for a while. I sat on it for a few weeks, resisting temptation after temptation until I paid my first visit to the local hardwood/ exotic wood dealer Anchor Hardwoods/Wilmington, NC http://www.anchorhardwoods.com/. As soon as I walked in there I knew I wasn't leaving without a bunch of beautiful wood. After about two hours of crunching numbers, I decided on jatoba. No, I'm not going to tell you how much I paid for it, it is pretty embaressing. :roll: But, long story short, I ended up with a bunch of beautiful wood and the helpful guys at Anchor Hardwoods resawed and planed it for free.

I can honestly say that I didn't look at any plans online for this. I basically took a few measurements and drew out what I wanted on a sheet of paper.

The first half of this project was built in my friend's garage. Luckily, he is pretty experienced with woodworking and showed me a lot of things that I've never done before. We started by joining and glueing the head and footboards using the tongue and groove method.

While those were glueing, We glued up the posts. Effectively, they were 4x4"s.

After that, my friend's wife and son got back from out of town, so we had to load it all up and take it to the warehouse at work, where I finished the project more or less by myself. Once it was all there and set up, I started making the mortises and routing the edges of the posts. I had never done a mortise before so they weren't perfect, but they ended up ok I guess.

I then went back to the head and footboards, sanded them with a belt sander and then an orbital sander to make sure they were all uniform. Then I cut the first tenons I've ever done to join the head and footboards to the posts.

Then I started working on the trim, also a first for me. The tops and bottoms of the posts all had "caps" that I cut and then rounded with the router and orbital sander. I also cut shoe moulding (I think) with the table saw and router to go under the caps.

Then I took two scrap pieces, cut them and planed them to size and joined them in the center with dowel rods. This was the "shelf" for the top of the headboard.

After joining the "shelf" to the posts with dowel rods, I started putting the moulding on. I had never cut moulding before and had no assistance doing this, but it wasn't too frustrating or difficult. Putting it on the posts ended up being pretty frustrating though. My original plan was to predrill holes and nail (and glue) it on. However, after a few broken drill bits, bent nails and gluey moulding sliding all over the place, I just glued it and clamped it. :-x

Then I joined the center support piece for the shelf with dowel rods.

After that I sanded everything to 600 and it was time to finish. I had already tested rub-on poly and tung oil on two similar looking pieces of scrap and I was very impressed with the tung oil, so I went with that. Between coats I sanded with 0000 steel wool. After it was all finished, I realized that I had glued up the headboard posts wrong. The mortises to house the siderail tenons were suppossed to be offset to the outside, but we had somehow switched the posts around so they were on the inside. So I had to go back and make two more mortises. :-x All in all, it turned out great though. Luckily, you couldn't see the two "extra" mortises because the mattress covers them. Here is the finished product.

I knew that the footboard was pretty high on this bed, so I designed the center support piece to angle in toward the center, that way it wouldn't be visible.

Here it is, all set up. (I couldn't actually fit it in the frame, room is too small)

Finally, a before and after.

Before (shabby metal frame):

After (bank account draining, countless hours of work, mac daddy jatoba frame):

This was the biggest project I've ever done, but I'm really excited about the next one......... a nightstand with the leftovers. If you made it to the end of this and are still with us, thank you SO much for your time. Comments and criticism are welcomed.

Thanks again,

Trent

 

[Trent Mason]

Welcome Trent, I am really glad that you could make it over here. Thanks for the intro. I see that we have other interests in common other than woodworking (I've never surfed in my life :lol You really do need to post some pictures of your bed. It's a fine piece of workmanship, especailly for a so called "beginner".
We might have to get together next time I am in Wilmington, and you can help me to convince my FIL that there is other wood in town besides Heart Pine.
I look forward to your input in the forums and seeing more of your work.
Dave

Hello Dave (and everyone else),

Thanks so much for the invite. This deinitely seems like a great bunch of folks, and (fairly) local too. That kind've makes me feel better after all the folks from up North on the other forum gloating about getting all of this nice wood for about a fifth of the price I can get it for. :roll: Definitely let me know if you come to town any time soon. To everyone else, it is really great to be here. Thanks so much for the warm welcome. :-D

Trent

 

[McRabbet]

Wow! 31 pics and of your efforts to design and produce a very nice project! Beautiful choice of wood, too. You should be very proud of what you've accomplished, aside from the minor mortise location error. Your center support is very effective and most creative.

A few suggestions to help in any future projects or to strengthen this one. It appears that the rail mortise/tenons are not deep enough to provide adequate strength either side-to-side or lengthwise -- With the span you have and the width of the bed, I would recommend the tenons should be 2- to 2-1/2" long and the mortises about 1/16 - 1/8" deeper that the tenons. These should be pegged or have removable pins for the side rails if the bed is made to be disassembled for moving. Second, I think you need to add a stretcher between the headboard posts, roughly at the height of the side rails. As made, the headboard is vulnerable to damage by racking (side-to-side movement). It's a beautiful bed, but don't let anyone jump on it! Hope this helps.

 

[JimmyC]

Welcome aboard Trent,

The bed looks great, nice tutorial on the building of it. I'm sure you'll do just fine here. Don't forget your local sawyers, you have Ivey in Burgaw @ Beaver Branch Sawmill 910-540-0705. He's a member and a great guy, and sure to set you up with some good wood in the future, his prices are right on too ! Anyway, it's great to have you join us.

Jimmy

 

[Trent Mason]

Wow! 31 pics and of your efforts to design and produce a very nice project! Beautiful choice of wood, too. You should be very proud of what you've accomplished, aside from the minor mortise location error. Your center support is very effective and most creative.

A few suggestions to help in any future projects or to strengthen this one. It appears that the rail mortise/tenons are not deep enough to provide adequate strength either side-to-side or lengthwise -- With the span you have and the width of the bed, I would recommend the tenons should be 2- to 2-1/2" long and the mortises about 1/16 - 1/8" deeper that the tenons. These should be pegged or have removable pins for the side rails if the bed is made to be disassembled for moving. Second, I think you need to add a stretcher between the headboard posts, roughly at the height of the side rails. As made, the headboard is vulnerable to damage by racking (side-to-side movement). It's a beautiful bed, but don't let anyone jump on it! Hope this helps.

Very good points. I was kind've concerned about that too. I'm just thinking about how I could go back now and add a stretcher now that the rest is glued up.

The tenons on the siderails are an inch long and I used double-wide corner braces to reinforce them once they were in. I am concerned about reinforcing the head and footboard though. :eusa_thin

 

[Bas]

Awesome bed. And this was a very ambitious project to try your first mortise-and-tenon joinery - kudos for going for it!

 

[DavidF]

Does your Wife know you included a photo with the bed not made???? boy are you in trouble:lol::lol::lol:

Nice job on the bed though, I know from experience that just dealing with large pieces of wood is a chalenge in its self.

 

[Trent Mason]

Does your Wife know you included a photo with the bed not made???? boy are you in trouble:lol::lol::lol:

Shhhhhhhhh............ :lol::lol::lol:

 

[Trent Mason]

Welcome aboard Trent,

The bed looks great, nice tutorial on the building of it. I'm sure you'll do just fine here. Don't forget your local sawyers, you have Ivey in Burgaw @ Beaver Branch Sawmill 910-540-0705. He's a member and a great guy, and sure to set you up with some good wood in the future, his prices are right on too ! Anyway, it's great to have you join us.

Jimmy

Hello Jimmy,

Thanks for the kind words and the info. I'll definitely keep that in mind. I did a little search and saw a thread talking about a load of black walnut that he had. Is this the norm? 8-O

Trent