# Designing and making an Emperor size Sleigh Bed



## robertlaurenson

Morning All, 
Looking for some ideas and advice on a project i'm planning, to let you understand the background, i was left a small amount of money by my grandparents, been holding on to it for over a year wondering what to do with it, between my wife and I we have agreed on an Emperor size bed, we were looking at the beds sold by a company called Revival Beds, they look amazing, but instead of buying one, i am now looking at building it myself, something along the lines of this 
Quality Leather Sleigh Beds - The Tuscany Sleigh Bed | Revival Beds (hope it's ok to post that for reference purposes?)

Looking at the moment for a basic plan of sorts, that tells me what thickness to make the parts, the corners of the headboard and footboard which hold the side rails etc, Also considering several different types of wood as follows, 
1, Ash - stained darker to bring the lines out
2, Iroko
3, Cherry
4, Maple
5, Oak
6, Sapele

The lighter woods in the list i would most likley stain darker, and the darker woods would be oiled, or clear finished in some way. 

Anyone have any reasons to avoid any of the woods for this purpose, or the best ones to use?

Looking forward to your comments, really looking forward to this project also.


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## Argus

That looks to be an interesting project from a number of perspectives.

First, on the wood-front, there's the consideration of availability in your part of the world. Secondly, cost: wood prices have gone through the roof lately.

From the list of timbers, and on a personal note, I would take away Iroko and Sapele and concentrate on temperate timbers. Both these have a tendency to be irritant when you are involved with the dust at an intimate level and can also have silicate inclusions that your cutting tools definitely won't like.

Aesthetics aside......all of the others would be suitable from a structural point of view, I think, though I strongly urge you to select carefully and allow everything to acclimatise to your local humidity at each stage of the preparation. 
As you said, Oak, Cherry and Maple will all probably darken naturally with time and exposure to light..... which means that some parts that are covered with cloth and bedding may turn out a lighter contrast with the outer parts in time...... but to me that's not a problem, all natural wood furniture does it.

Good luck and on-going photos would keep us all happy!


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## TheTiddles

Get huge mattress and slats first, or at least make very sure you know their dimensions
There is a lot of wood in those beds, are you thinking you will do it cheaper? You might not.


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## robertlaurenson

TheTiddles said:


> Get huge mattress and slats first, or at least make very sure you know their dimensions
> There is a lot of wood in those beds, are you thinking you will do it cheaper? You might not.


The bed to buy is 4-5k including drawers in oak, Until i draw it and price it i cant be certain, but i'm fairly sure i will be able to do it cheaper than that. It's not only that though, it's just having something like that, that was paid for by the money i mentioned, at least in part, and also if i build it myself, it will eventually turn into a family heirloom (hopefully not too soon in my case  )


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## robertlaurenson

Argus said:


> That looks to be an interesting project from a number of perspectives.
> 
> First, on the wood-front, there's the consideration of availability in your part of the world. Secondly, cost: wood prices have gone through the roof lately.
> 
> From the list of timbers, and on a personal note, I would take away Iroko and Sapele and concentrate on temperate timbers. Both these have a tendency to be irritant when you are involved with the dust at an intimate level and can also have silicate inclusions that your cutting tools definitely won't like.
> 
> Aesthetics aside......all of the others would be suitable from a structural point of view, I think, though I strongly urge you to select carefully and allow everything to acclimatise to your local humidity at each stage of the preparation.
> As you said, Oak, Cherry and Maple will all probably darken naturally with time and exposure to light..... which means that some parts that are covered with cloth and bedding may turn out a lighter contrast with the outer parts in time...... but to me that's not a problem, all natural wood furniture does it.
> 
> Good luck and on-going photos would keep us all happy!


thanks for all that, much appreciated.

As far as timber goes, are there any that would be less prone to warping, our house is a modern one, underfloor heating, dry as a bone, the last thing i would want would be to go to all the effort of making this and then it warp.


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## Jones

With the sections used on a bed any timber apart from balsa should be strong enough. With ash dieback there's a lot on the market now so it's probably the cheapest option or just go to a yard and see what they have, chesnut and wild cherry are both good options if available and are cheaper than oak etc.


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## Adam W.

Best quater sawn European oak should be just the ticket.


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## recipio

I would decide on a good hardwood that suits the theme of the rest of your furniture. Making heirloom furniture with a cheap softwood never works - it just depreciates after a few years. Also ,Its nice to get away from that bleached 'far eastern' look that everybody buys nowadays. Absolutely get the mattress before starting and avoid any shin bashing wide boards on the sides.
I've made a few beds and the best K/D fittings are metal dowels with a drawbolt. There is a classic 'Sleigh Bed ' design in the literature - see if you can get a set of plans before starting. ?


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## robertlaurenson

recipio said:


> I would decide on a good hardwood that suits the theme of the rest of your furniture. Making heirloom furniture with a cheap softwood never works - it just depreciates after a few years. Also ,Its nice to get away from that bleached 'far eastern' look that everybody buys nowadays. Absolutely get the mattress before starting and avoid any shin bashing wide boards on the sides.
> I've made a few beds and the best K/D fittings are metal dowels with a drawbolt. There is a classic 'Sleigh Bed ' design in the literature - see if you can get a set of plans before starting. ?


I must say due to price and the colour and lines in it I'm leaning towards Ash.


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## robertlaurenson

recipio said:


> I would decide on a good hardwood that suits the theme of the rest of your furniture. Making heirloom furniture with a cheap softwood never works - it just depreciates after a few years. Also ,Its nice to get away from that bleached 'far eastern' look that everybody buys nowadays. Absolutely get the mattress before starting and avoid any shin bashing wide boards on the sides.
> I've made a few beds and the best K/D fittings are metal dowels with a drawbolt. There is a classic 'Sleigh Bed ' design in the literature - see if you can get a set of plans before starting. ?


As far as the matress goes it's going to be 7ft square, I'm pretty good with Rhino so going to model it there first to get a cutting list, couple of questions.
What are K/D fittings?
And what literature are you referring to, where could I get a design like that?


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## Argus

robertlaurenson said:


> What are K/D fittings?



K/D = "knock-Down" - fittings in a design that comes apart so that the bed can be moved in sections.

They come in two sorts:
Cheap and 'orrible, and the more expensive type that should last a bit longer...... they mostly fail in time, but it's the degree and duration of horizontal jogging that eventually seals thier fate.


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## recipio

robertlaurenson said:


> I must say due to price and the colour and lines in it I'm leaning towards Ash.



Ash is absolutely fine and easy to work. It has a pronounced grain after finishing but is less expensive than maple.
You need K/D fittings as the bed may be moved at some point in the future. I make my own brass dowels out of 25 mm round stock - its easy to drill and tap an M8 hole for the bolts. Avoid 'clip on ' and Ikea type fixings - they will creak and groan and rock to and fro. The dowel joints are rock solid and I have never had a failure with them.
I can suggest ' Beds and Bedroom furniture ' -the best of Fine Woodworking which I see is available on Amazon. It has a design for a sleigh bed but is a bit elaborate. Beds are not difficult to make - as long as you get the correct K/D fittings .


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## robertlaurenson

recipio said:


> Ash is absolutely fine and easy to work. It has a pronounced grain after finishing but is less expensive than maple.
> You need K/D fittings as the bed may be moved at some point in the future. I make my own brass dowels out of 25 mm round stock - its easy to drill and tap an M8 hole for the bolts. Avoid 'clip on ' and Ikea type fixings - they will creak and groan and rock to and fro. The dowel joints are rock solid and I have never had a failure with them.
> I can suggest ' Beds and Bedroom furniture ' -the best of Fine Woodworking which I see is available on Amazon. It has a design for a sleigh bed but is a bit elaborate. Beds are not difficult to make - as long as you get the correct K/D fittings .


Thanks again, good information, 

I have had a look at the sleigh bed in that book, it's not really the style i want, I am more looking for something similar to the one i copied the link to in my original post, a more grand looking thing, my wife has a sewing business and she is planning to make the leather panels for it to soften it a bit, so it's going to be a bit of a joint effort.

The only bits i am struggling with are the thicknesses of the corner pieces and side rails, as they will be taking the bulk of the weight, what i was thinking was 30mm rails, and 40mm corners (the bits where the sides and ends fix to in place of corner posts) hope that makes sense. 

Thanks
Robert


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## TheTiddles

Many beds don’t put all the load on four corners and have a frame inside the wooden frame that carries the slats and has additional supports to the floor, which seems sensible to me. The thickness of the timbers is less critical than the depth


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## Droogs

the slats on mine are 2"x1" the centre rail us 3"x11/2" set on edge into mortices in the head and foot rests with 2 small 1 1/2" small leg posts a 1/3 of the way in. The sides of the bed are 4" deep and 2" thick. The head and footer have varying thickness as it is ornately carved. Will put up a couple of picks later (laying new floors in the study at the moment.


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## Cabinetman

Fixing the side rail to post is always the problem, this is the way I always make beds and I have never had any come back and my own two are still fine after many years. There is a stub tenon about 14 inches long mortised and glued into the leg and then screws go through that into the side rail of the bed, big chunky number 14's. These legs are 2 1/4” square with mahogany inlay.
The last sleigh bed I made the client wanted the legs chunky chunky and I used 5” square oak which was a bit of a problem as the only 5 inch I could get was air dried— wet! Photo to follow. Ian


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## Cabinetman

Sleigh bed, the curved headboard is really comfortable (Says client), I built a thin ply jig that could be altered both for curvature and angle for the client to test out during the Design stage.
The oak slats are loose tongue and grooved together and mortised into the sides of the legs, getting the top rails on the foot and the head of the bed to flow into the same curve on the ends of the legs was interesting as it was all very chunky heavy stuff, and of course they were made from air dried oak as well which then shrank as I knew they would, had to go back after 18 months to plane down the tops of the legs so that they were flush again. Ian


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## Jameshow

Cabinetman said:


> Fixing the side rail to post is always the problem, this is the way I always make beds and I have never had any come back and my own two are still fine after many years. There is a stub tenon about 14 inches long mortised and glued into the leg and then screws go through that into the side rail of the bed, big chunky number 14's. These legs are 2 1/4” square with mahogany inlay.
> The last sleigh bed I made the client wanted the legs chunky chunky and I used 5” square oak which was a bit of a problem as the only 5 inch I could get was air dried— wet! Photo to follow. Ian
> View attachment 125755



Nice beds! 

What's the rational of using a sub tenon rather than a tension on the rail itself?

Cheers James


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## Cabinetman

Typo for tenon? Well if it was a tenon it would be glued the same as the foot and head rails, and then you could never take the bed apart to move it, particularly at 7 ft square. Ian
Edit, fairly obviously if you didn’t glue the tenon it would be – well let’s say squeaky lol.


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## clive griffiths

At one time I used to help out with a friend of mine when things were busy with him, as well as the usual kitchens etc he used to build about a dozen sleigh beds every week with all the timbers mentioned except Sapele and Iroko,
We also used Idigbo easy to machine and stain I dont know the prices these days but should not break the bank.

Clive.


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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman great looking bed, but not exactly the same style we are going for,
The style in this picture is what we are going for, i know it will be more work, shaping and routing the corner pieces and the large dowel at the top, but love the look of it, going to make the foot end lower though, so it's just above mattress height, rather than what it looks like in this picture. Would look at just buying this from the company that sell them, but for the reasons above i really want to make it myself.
Also going to put a pull out drawer in each side, the leather cushioned parts will be made by my wife, so it's going to be a real family thing and with the money from my grandparents money paying for the wood it will have real sentimental value, hopefully for generations.

My only question now i've started drawing it, is the thickness of the wood for the side rails and corner parts, don't want to go thicker than i need to for cost, but also don't want it to be too thin. Thinking around 30mm, Then due to the 7ft width, a rail the same in the center, 32x190 (standard size for Ash in a local store) do you think that would suffice?


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## gcusick

I used some of these:









Premium Heavy Duty Bed Connecting System


Heavy Duty Bed Connecting System Our Heavy Duty Bed connecting system is also known as "FUERTE" KD-System and provides a strong a secure bed and table assembly. We stock the fully range of fitting including 35mm house, male dowels and female dowels. Deliv




www.bedslats.co.uk





to replace the (failed) horrid slot-together things on our bed. I used 2 per corner - the side rails on the bed are ~150 x 25 veneered ply. Easy enough to fit, and they’re still solid and quiet after about 3 years.


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## Austin Branson

Hello Robert,
It’s always difficult to tell from photos, but I would guess the rails and corners to all be around 40mm. The rails look about 300 or 350mm deep to me. The Cabinetman example looks beautifully made to me, if I were you I would try to get friendly, and get more info on construction details, especially support of the mattress and drawers. Best wishes.


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## Cabinetman

Austin Branson said:


> Hello Robert,
> It’s always difficult to tell from photos, but I would guess the rails and corners to all be around 40mm. The rails look about 300 or 350mm deep to me. The Cabinetman example looks beautifully made to me, if I were you I would try to get friendly, and get more info on construction details, especially support of the mattress and drawers. Best wishes.


 Absolutely no need to get friendly ha ha ha ha. Looking at that bed I think the way it’s made is that the sides are made and glued up in one piece and then the bolts that hold the sides to the ends are at the top hidden behind that brass decorative plate and the bottom one is probably hidden behind the foot section, Those bolts shown above whilst pretty good seem to have just the threads on the short pieces into the wood of the bed to give traction at one end, But then in another picture the two great big round bits seem to be fastened together which would work well. Bit confusing. You could of course just go for stainless threaded bar big washers and nuts and a hole cut into the underside of the top rail to slide the washer and nut into, you would need to design it so that these holes in the top rail are covered up when you assemble the rest of the foot to it. 
Thickness of timber for the side decorative bits and rails, The 32 x 190 sounds good but I would think you would need to cut one of the 190s along its length and fasten each half to one of the 190s creating a side rail which is about 285 wide, as you have surmised it’s all about designing with what you can get/have. Don’t be afraid to ask if you need any help as it’s quite an ambitious project, not sure how experienced you are or what equipment you have? 
Slats, I always use 4”x1” par (Planed all round) pine but a very wide bed like that I think needs a central heavy rail going front to back, probably loose mortised into the head and foot rail somehow, you could of course fit a foot/leg to it in the centre of the bed like IKEA do. Ian


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## baldkev

What kit and experience do you have at your disposal?


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## MARK.B.

All great advice given above and please tell me you will post a pic or two along the way, you might want to save up a few bob for the new linen, it wont be cheap and you need all new X 3 (my Mrs says so and I am not brave enough to contradict her )most places will not have that size and those that do will not be cheap . One other thing to consider is just how big the thing will be, if you have a large bedroom then no problems , most modern builds would struggle to fit a double and still leave enough room to swing an cat . A king size may be a better option for an heirloom piece as there is more chance of it fitting various bedrooms over the year's , If you look in any auction house you will find loads of beautiful hand made furniture that are just to big to fit in a modern day house.


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## Cabinetman

Very true I didn’t want to mention it! Plus what on earth would the mattress cost.


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## TheTiddles

If you’re going to do it, don’t cheap out using thinner wood as an economy, the saving will be small and easily forgotten, the compromised design will be there when you go to sleep and waiting for you every morning, every day, always haunting you


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## Jameshow

Cabinetman said:


> Typo for tenon? Well if it was a tenon it would be glued the same as the foot and head rails, and then you could never take the bed apart to move it, particularly at 7 ft square. Ian
> Edit, fairly obviously if you didn’t glue the tenon it would be – well let’s say squeaky lol.


Ok I take the Darwin award!!!


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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman Thanks very much for that detailed reply, actually just heard back from the local store, they can get 40x250 also which may be a better fit all round with the shapes on the ends. 
As far as experience goes, i am a Marine Engineer to trade, have a workshop full of Engineering, Metal Work and Woodworking tools, so nothing i don't have at the moment i can think of. I have a business in my time home from sea building Aluminium boats, and have done quite a lot of joinery and woodworking, made tables, cabinets, kitchen units, few sheds etc. I know this will be a level up, but for the reasons i am doing it I am willing to give it the time and dedication it will require.

@MARK.B. Yes i will gladly post pictures of this, will be more than a proud thing to do for me, so will gladly share. Currently doing the design in Rhino, got the side rails and 4 corners done, just moving on to the two ends just now.


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## Cabinetman

robertlaurenson said:


> @Cabinetman Thanks very much for that detailed reply, actually just heard back from the local store, they can get 40x250 also which may be a better fit all round with the shapes on the ends.
> As far as experience goes, i am a Marine Engineer to trade, have a workshop full of Engineering, Metal Work and Woodworking tools, so nothing i don't have at the moment i can think of. I have a business in my time home from sea building Aluminium boats, and have done quite a lot of joinery and woodworking, made tables, cabinets, kitchen units, few sheds etc. I know this will be a level up, but for the reasons i am doing it I am willing to give it the time and dedication it will require.
> 
> @MARK.B. Yes i will gladly post pictures of this, will be more than a proud thing to do for me, so will gladly share. Currently doing the design in Rhino, got the side rails and 4 corners done, just moving on to the two ends just now.


Oh well that’s great, we’ll sit back and enjoy this Robert, no pressure lol.
Personally if you have the equipment to do it I would not buy the 250 wide, if it cups it will give you real problems. And 32 is more than adequate thickness.


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## TheTiddles

Funny hearing your experience, I’ve always wanted to make a bed out of aluminium…


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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman I'm looking forward to it now, might not happen overnight, but it will happen. Half drawn now, going to need to laminate some boards for the corners as they need to be fairly wide to get that shape. Thankyou very much for all your help, got your drawing also, all extremely helpful. Thanks.


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## Cabinetman

Glad to have been of help Robert, it’s going to be interesting to watch you as you bring this to fruition, best of luck, not that I think you need it. Ian


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## Sgian Dubh

A video of the construction used in Revival's beds is *at this link.* I'd say the video's revealing because even though it only shows selected stages of construction it told me all I'd need to know to pretty much reproduce one of their beds. Anyway, connection of the side rails to the footboard and headboard is clearly seen in the video at about 1:20 minutes in and onwards from their for about 10 -15 seconds; you might need to scroll back or forth to get to that point. The connection method is quite a common one, i.e., a couple of dowels for alignment and a threaded bed connector bolt plus washer and nut. Slainte.


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## Stevekane

Cabinetman said:


> Very true I didn’t want to mention it! Plus what on earth would the mattress cost.


He could use a pair of singles, that way you can have soft or firm to suit!


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## TheTiddles

That video show that they are using pretty cheap softwood but making high value items from it


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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman and everyone, just about finished the first draft of the design, here are a couple of basic renders from Rhino, based on the revival beds one, not exactly the same, but close.
The only part i'm not sure about are the feet, should i leave the bottom of the boards to come down, or chop them flush and put feet of some sort on it?
Any opinions welcome.


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## Austin Branson

TheTiddles said:


> That video show that they are using pretty cheap softwood but making high value items from it


A little disappointing.


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## Cabinetman

I remember being told if you’re going to make a statement make a statement, and as that is a huge Baronial bed go for it, I think they look quite good those feet, I presume you have checked with her Ladyship.
As you must have quite a large bedroom have you considered a sloping headboard, it doesn’t need to be much of an angle to greatly add to the comfort when leaning against the headboard reading etc. Ian


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## Cabinetman

In case anybody is interested I did quite a bit of experimentation when I built my sloping headboard and it moves through 25° out from vertical sounds a lot but it isn’t much when you see it. Ian


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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman Yes she says the feet coming down like that looks fine, also have two on the drawing under the center rail, so should be plenty of support. Just drawing it out like this to make it easier, going to make templates then MDF blanks of the corner pieces before i do the real thing, just to make sure it looks ok in real life. 
The headboard on that design is sloping 7 degrees, not a good angle to see it, but i think that will be enough.


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## robertlaurenson

TheTiddles said:


> That video show that they are using pretty cheap softwood but making high value items from it


They offer the beds in either soft wood or Oak, the oak version of the one i am basing my one on is 4500 ish, the softwood version is 1500. So a fair saving.


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## Jameshow

robertlaurenson said:


> @Cabinetman and everyone, just about finished the first draft of the design, here are a couple of basic renders from Rhino, based on the revival beds one, not exactly the same, but close.
> The only part i'm not sure about are the feet, should i leave the bottom of the boards to come down, or chop them flush and put feet of some sort on it?
> Any opinions welcome. View attachment 125865
> View attachment 125864


Looks good, how are you doing the K/D fixing so that joints don't show and it doesn't work loose? 

Cheers James


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## Inspector

My life experiences with any bed that has feet that stick out or are flush with the outside of the bed, is that I will smash my toes often. Something to consider.

Pete


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## robertlaurenson

Jameshow said:


> Looks good, how are you doing the K/D fixing so that joints don't show and it doesn't work loose?
> 
> Cheers James


Thanks, hope it looks good when finished.
As far as the KD fittings go,I'm looking at the Festool Domino straight KD connectors for the 700 machine. Don't have one but can borrow one and buy the fittings, they look like they are about the best on the market for the job.


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## Droogs

Needs far more slats, mine has about a dozen


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## robertlaurenson

Droogs said:


> Needs far more slats, mine has about a dozen


Just a first drawing. Will put in as many as I need to when at that stage.


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## recipio

robertlaurenson said:


> Just a first drawing. Will put in as many as I need to when at that stage.



The side rails probably need to be a little higher. You will want to get a hoover under the bed at some stage. ? Those Festool K/D fittings look ideal and you will only need four as they are reinforced with wooden dominoes. Those 7' dowels across the bedends look tricky unless you can find some huge router bits with the correct radius.?


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## robertlaurenson

recipio said:


> The side rails probably need to be a little higher. You will want to get a hoover under the bed at some stage. ? Those Festool K/D fittings look ideal and you will only need four as they are reinforced with wooden dominoes. Those 7' dowels across the bedends look tricky unless you can find some huge router bits with the correct radius.?


Yes i was thinking to make them slightly higher, just drawing out some foot ideas just now, maybe even buy something ready to go, not sure. And as far as the dowels go, i have access to a large metal lathe, so my plan is to get square blanks and make them on that. and cutting the slot for the headboard and footboard on the table saw. Lots of ideas, hopefully they will all work, fingers crossed anyway


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## Cabinetman

Those dowels as you call them don’t really need to cause you much anguish at all, if you look back on page one at that sleigh bed I made those top sections which are probably 4 1/2 inches across, aren’t round and they were cut by taking slices off on the table saw them just finishing off with a hand plane, didn’t take long at all.
@recipio I certainly would want to fit more than one KD fitting on each corner, the stresses just from the size and weight of a bed like this requires it ime.


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## Jameshow

Cabinetman said:


> Those dowels as you call them don’t really need to cause you much anguish at all, if you look back on page one at that sleigh bed I made those top sections which are probably 4 1/2 inches across, aren’t round and they were cut by taking slices off on the table saw them just finishing off with a hand plane, didn’t take long at all.
> @recipio I certainly would want to fit more than one KD fitting on each corner, the stresses just from the size and weight of a bed like this requires it ime.


I agree beds usually have 2x K/D bolts in each rail...


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## robertlaurenson

Thinking to put two of the domino connectors in each corner, have changed the bed slightly now to have legs that support the ends and the ends of the side rails. Just make feet from 40mm stock and domino them in the underside.


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## Cabinetman

robertlaurenson said:


> Thinking to put two of the domino connectors in each corner, have changed the bed slightly now to have legs that support the ends and the ends of the side rails. Just make feet from 40mm stock and domino them in the underside.View attachment 125972


Yes that’s a good idea and it fits the design nicely.
To save a bit of timber the head board doesn’t need to go all the way down to the bottom, you could just have a single rail across to take the central under slat support. Might make it easier to make the bed as well. Ian


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## recipio

Jameshow said:


> I agree beds usually have 2x K/D bolts in each rail...


.Not so sure. All the promo videos for the Xl connector show a 25 mm hole in the post and a 50 mm hole in the rail. They also show one wooden domino above the connector or even a connector in between two dominoes. I don't think a 25 mm depth is strong enough for a bed but I'm open to correction.


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## Jameshow

recipio said:


> .Not so sure. All the promo videos for the Xl connector show a 25 mm hole in the post and a 50 mm hole in the rail. They also show one wooden domino above the connector or even a connector in between two dominoes. I don't think a 25 mm depth is strong enough for a bed but I'm open to correction.


I wasn't thinking of domino connectors just your ordinary furniture boots and barrel nuts... 


25/50 doesn't seem very deep? 

How about bolts underneath a decorative cap? 

Cheers James


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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman and anyone else still watching this post, have made slight progress, got templates cnc cut for the head and foot sections, here's a photo, have ordered the Ash for it, a friend of mine with a large wood shop is planing it all down to thickness for me, the whole thing will be around 34mm Ash boards. Will be building the bed in the next 4 to 6 weeks. 
Will keep you updated on progress.


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## TheTiddles

Good plan, if you’re investing in doing this well that’s probably money well spent


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## robertlaurenson

Hi all,
Hopefully some of you will see this, I'm away back offshore for two weeks but the bed is nearing completion and I'm fairly happy with the results.

Any ideas on what to use to finish this would be appreciated, torn between a few things just now, but the main contenders are either Danish oil or Osmo Polyx oil.

After all the discussion about KD fittings, as you will see from the last picture I made up a couple of Ash blocks, one overlapping the joint with two coach bolts, glued and screwed to the inside rail of the side rail and corners, seems to work alright.

Thanks
Robert


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## robertlaurenson

Few photos of the build and the jig I made for making floating tenons with the router.


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## robertlaurenson




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## robertlaurenson




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## robertlaurenson

@Cabinetman any suggestions on finishes to bring the best out of this?


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## Droogs

BLO and then a nice crystaline was. A lot of rubbing but pretty


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## robertlaurenson

Droogs said:


> BLO and then a nice crystaline was. A lot of rubbing but pretty


What is BLO? Can't think?


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## Inspector

robertlaurenson said:


> What is BLO? Can't think?


BLO = Boiled Linseed Oil.

Pete


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## Orraloon

BLO is very easy to do and will give a matt finish. Danish oil will give a bit more shine but will take longer as its about a day between coats. Last bed I made was done with Danish oil. About 6 coats then wait another week and wax. As you have put a lot of work into making a great looking bed take a bit more time and experiment on a few offcuts to see what you like the look of. There are so many finishes now its always hard to know where to start.
Regards
John


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## Droogs

As stated aboveby @Orraloon you will get a matt off the BLO; this when rubbed over with a couple of layers of crystaline wax will then give a nice soft sheen rather than a glossy shinny overly reflective finish. I feel the soft sheen is much more suited to bedroom furniture given the rooms informal feel as opposed to the formal rigidity of more public areas where a glossy finish seems more appropriate.


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