Project by jdh122 | posted 02-15-2015 08:22 PM | 2443 views | 4 times favorited | 6 comments | ![]() |
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My new bed. Made from yellow birch, except for the posts, which I turned on my springpole lathe out of some kind of maple that a neighbor had cut down. I think it might be Norway maple, it certainly was lighter and weaker than the birch boards (so not sugar maple). I split them out of the log and turned them green. But they went extremely oval as they dried and I’ve discovered since that I can turn kiln-dried wood just fine on my alcohol-powered lathe, so I’m not sure that green is worth the bother. I know that the turning is pretty basic, no beads or coves, but I’m still a beginner turner. Plus I like the simple, plain look.
The maple was so much lighter in color than the birch that I decided to use orange shellac rather than tung oil and to put more coats on the legs. Took a lot of coats, padded on, but the result is a really nice finish after buffing it with steel wool and applying paste wax. This may be my new go-to finish.
It was very difficult to do the mortises in the round legs. Chopped the first one with chisels and then did the three others with brace and auger followed by chisels. I got the mortises mostly at 90 degrees from each other and in the middle of the legs, but I see why people often leave part of the leg square to receive the tenons. I scribed the rails to fit around the posts, but it was hard to eliminate the gaps entirely (see photo). It might have been easier with scribing (in-canel) gouges rather than regular carving gouges, but I have enough superfluous rarely-used tools as it is without buying these.
Thanks for looking.
-- Jeremy, in the Acadian forests
6 comments so far
MarkTheFiddler
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2068 posts in 3158 days
#1 posted 02-16-2015 01:05 AM
I love it. The design is simple and beautiful. Congrats on the fine lathe-work.
-- Thanks for all the lessons!
jim1953
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#2 posted 02-16-2015 03:56 AM
great lookin bed
-- Jim, Kentucky
jdh122
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#3 posted 02-16-2015 07:32 PM
Thanks for the compliments, Mark and Jim. I slept in it last night for the first time…
-- Jeremy, in the Acadian forests
BikerDad
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#4 posted 03-12-2016 12:35 AM
That’s a nice, simple, elegant design. Love it.
-- I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park! Grace & Peace.
BuffaloMntWW
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#5 posted 01-26-2017 01:46 PM
Hey I’m looking to build a similar bed. How did you join the head board? Mine will be a little larger (king size) and i’m a little concerned about wood movement.
thanks!
jdh122
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1215 posts in 3788 days
#6 posted 03-09-2017 05:19 PM
Buffalo,
Sorry, didn’t see your question. If you haven’t yet made the bed. There are two mortises, above and below the little half-moon. The top one is glued-in as usual, while the bottom one has a dowel through the post into the tenon. But the tenon has a groove rather than a hole to receive the dowel, and the mortise is slightly longer than the tenon. The allows the headboard to move…
-- Jeremy, in the Acadian forests
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