# Swinging Crib / Cradle - WIP with Pics



## TrimTheKing (7 Oct 2008)

Evening all

I've finally got round to finishing my second complete project this evening, a swinging crib/cradle for my impending firstborn.

When we found out we were expecting I had a real urge to make something for the Bambino, that was of some use and could be a family heirloom (wishful thinking...?), so after some judicious Googling I decided on a swinging crib that I found plans for, so I bought the plans and modified them with some changes of my own, and here's the pics and story...

Decided on making it in ABW, so two 10'x11"x2" boards were purchased from Irmass in Salford and having worked out the lengths I would need I got them to x-cut them in half for me to make it easier to get in the car  

Then got them on the bench and cut and planed up the first couple of pieces






Cut all the pieces out to correct width, slightly over length and 1/8" over thickness and put them all in stick in the back bedroom for 6 weeks....

...6 weeks later and here's an end panel laid out on the bench to match the grain for the best look (dark bits are where I wiped with white spirit to get a better look at the grain).





Final thicknessing down of end panel parts





Cutting the basket slats to length after sizing...





Cutting out the feet...





My Heath Robinson attempt at a dowelling jig...





Legs clamped up, the dowelling jig worked ...





An end panel grain matched and marked up for biscuits...





How to make your own router table. :lol: Used this setup for cutting the slots/dadoes/trenches/whatever in the rails to take the slats...





Dry fit of a slat in rail...





Biscuiting up the end panels then sticking in the clamps...











Gluing up the basket sides...






Finished basket side waiting to go in the clamps...






I cut the end panel out 1/8th" outside the lines the used a bearing guided cutter in the router to trace around a plywood pattern. Spent quite a while on the pattern to ensure that I didn't pineapple up the ABW...






The legs got the same pattern treatment, but this time I had cut too close to the lines  so I had to do some fettling with block plane and files to tidy them up...






Next I clamped the basket sides between the end panels to drill the dowels. I had planned to do through wedged tenons on the rails but haste and lack of concentration meant that I cut the rails to the shoulder length and forgot the tenons :roll: SWIMBO can be seen overseeing proceedings...






Here's the dowels drilled through the end panels and into the rails...






Basket dry fit with all dowels in place...






Basket sides being sanded...






Basket side with first coat of Chestnut Food Safe Finish oil...






Legs and end panels with first coat of oil...






Now I needed something to cover up them pesky dowel holes. I tried plugs but couldn't match the grain perfectly so went with these. Cut from square stock with profile on the end and inset by 3mm, You can see that all arrises have been eased with a small chamfer which I think gives it a nice look and feel...






Here's the end panels, basket sides and cross brace after 3 coats of oil and 2 coats of Liberon Black Bison clear paste wax...






Here it is with the tee nut in place for the pivot and dry fit while measuring for the base panel...






Here's the base panel (6mm ply) marked up and having vent holes drilled. This was then sanded and given a coat of sanding sealer...






Basket all glued up with base fitted, pivot in place and legs clamped up, with spacer, to measure the exact length needed for the cross brace. SWIMBO came in at the end of the process to see how I was getting along and to offer any help. She's now 7 months pregnant so can't do any heavy stuff but she helped me balance stuff and screw in the pivot screws etc. At the end she then claimed that she can now say that she made it 






Next the brace was clamped in place to make sure it didn't splay at the top, all looking good so far...






And here's a few shots of it in the living room, with a 6-9 months babygrow to check for size 














So, hope you like it and would love to hear any thoughts. Love to hear what you might change to, and thanks for looking. Hopefully the little one will get more than a couple of weeks use out of it 


Cheers

Mark


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## Paul Chapman (7 Oct 2008)

That looks really nice, Mark =D> 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Karl (7 Oct 2008)

Excellent Mark - I really like that. ABW is a beautiful wood, and you seem to hav avoided sapwood, which can be a real problem with ABW.

Bet SWMBO was well chuffed with you handywork.

Cheers

Karl


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## harryc (7 Oct 2008)

WoW that looks great you sure thats only your second ever project 8) 

Well done

Harry


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## Blister (8 Oct 2008)

Lovely project , 
noticed you did not put some ply spacers between you work and the cramps :? but cant see any damage  

Is the base made out of marine ply :lol: , " Waterproof :lol: "

Hope all goes well for yourself and SHMBO :wink:


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## Waka (8 Oct 2008)

Mark

Thats a beautiful piece of work you should be proud of it. It will certainly be an airloom.

I did see some subtle gloats there, well done.


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## PowerTool (8 Oct 2008)

Excellent (and very useful!) project - and thanks for all the photos  

Andrew


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## OPJ (8 Oct 2008)

This is a lovely piece, Mark, very well done!  Nice walnut, too, I normally find I can't avoid sapwood - so, I generally try and avoid the stuff altogether! :shock: :wink: 

How is the base fitted - rebate? Groove?


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## wizer (8 Oct 2008)

Very nice work. You're a natural.

Good luck with the impending arrival.


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## gidon (8 Oct 2008)

Well done Mark! Great WIP shots too - really enjoyed them.
Good luck with the new arrival!
Cheers
Gidon


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## Lord Nibbo (8 Oct 2008)

Love the design, great workmanship, excellent result. =D>


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## Mcluma (8 Oct 2008)

Beautifull work


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## TrimTheKing (8 Oct 2008)

Hi All

Thanks for looking, and for all the comments. It really is gratifying to finish something and get to show it off to an encouraging audience.



karl":u5ha364o said:


> Excellent Mark - I really like that. ABW is a beautiful wood, and you seem to have avoided sapwood, which can be a real problem with ABW.


Hi Karl, yep the ABW really is a great wood and I was so happy with the result of applying the finish, the grain just burst out of nowhere.

The boards I got were from a shipment of '10 or wider' as the guy called it (10" or wider) which were new in and I managed to, with reluctant help from the blokes in the sheds, to shave some endgrain to get a feel for how much sapwood was there and managed to do really well. There was a sliver along both edges of one face of each board, but the furthest it went in to the board 1", so a tiny amount of wastage.



Blister":u5ha364o said:


> noticed you did not put some ply spacers between you work and the cramps Confused but cant see any damage Razz
> 
> Is the base made out of marine ply Laughing , " Waterproof Laughing "


The heads of the cramps are painted and quite 'soft' if that's the right word, so I think I was lucky, but next time I hopefully won't forget :roll: 

Ooooh, never thought of the wetness issue!!! It is normal ply but with a good coating of sanding sealer so will just need to keep an eye on it for...um.....puddles :lol: 



Waka":u5ha364o said:


> I did see some subtle gloats there, well done.


Gloats? Me? Never! they are fully utilised, working tools :wink: 



OPJ":u5ha364o said:


> How is the base fitted - rebate? Groove?


Hi Olly. Yep, this is the one I forgot to add. There is a 1/4" x 1/4" groove along the inside of each rail (board is loose fit with 1/8" clearance for shrinkage across end panels) with a 3/8" square cleat undeneath each end of the board screwed into the end panel.

Even without the cleats I could push down on it with all my strength and only just bent it, so I don't know that the cleats are needed. But I can just imagine the conversation if we came in the nursery to find baby on the floor because the panel gave way :shock: :shock: 

Cheers

Mark


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## Tierney (9 Oct 2008)

Well done, there are cribs in my extened family that 12 babies in one generation and two in the next have used; so they can become heirlooms!


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## Woodmagnet (10 Oct 2008)

Mark, very well made.


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## Rob_H (12 Oct 2008)

Fantastic - I need to make one of these for February and have been putting it off whilst pottering around the workshop looking busy whenever Mrs H appears. Do you still have the link to the plans as it would save me loads of time trawling?


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## BradNaylor (12 Oct 2008)

Very very nice, Mark.

Between you and me I don't think Irmass have ever sold so much walnut! Glad you managed to get such nice timber. I was there on Thursday and they've just had a pack of 'veneer grade' ABW in. It's stunning!

Good luck on the imminant arrival.

Dan


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## TrimTheKing (12 Oct 2008)

Dan Tovey":13opplr9 said:


> Very very nice, Mark.
> 
> Between you and me I don't think Irmass have ever sold so much walnut! Glad you managed to get such nice timber. I was there on Thursday and they've just had a pack of 'veneer grade' ABW in. It's stunning!
> 
> ...


Cheers Dan

I have really taken a shine to this timber after this project. Might have to nip down and have a look at the good stuff, just for future use.

Cheers

Mark


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## CroppyBoy1798 (20 Apr 2009)

I'm really dragging this one out of the vault!  . Are you still about TrimTheKing?! I wouldnt mind picking your mind with regard to the crib you made, I'm thinking of making one myself for my soon to arrive niece or nephew (its a good excuse to make something nice for a portfolio, a christening present as well as a wedding gift for my brother who's getting married in June! :lol: have it all planned!). 

I'm designing my own one but would just like to get some of the critical dimensions off you.


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## TrimTheKing (20 Apr 2009)

No probs Croppy, just drop me a PM with whatever you want to know.


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## Joints (21 Apr 2009)

I was just asked the other day to make a crib for a friends future born so this was really excellent to see thankyou very much!

I love it, and if its okay with you may I pinch some of the design?

How long did it take you roughly?

george


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## TrimTheKing (21 Apr 2009)

Joints":1x429g6n said:


> I was just asked the other day to make a crib for a friends future born so this was really excellent to see thankyou very much!
> 
> I love it, and if its okay with you may I pinch some of the design?
> 
> ...


Feel free George, I stole the original design myself and then modified it slightly 

I have the plans as PDF's if you want me to email them to you just drop me a PM with your email addy 

I started the project in the July and finished it in October. I wasn't working non stop on it though, so in total it was probably 25-30 hours. Bear in mind that I am quite new to this game though so everything I did was checked and measured multiple times to ensure no c0ck up's, and even then I still made a few 

Cheers

Mark


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## Brit-in-France (26 Apr 2009)

Hi Mark

Just discovered this string and have to say I was blown away by this project - so much so, I got to thinking which of my brood is the most likely to need a crib in the near future.

Forgive an amature, but wht is ABW? It is in the wee small hours I'm typing this so thought patterns not as sharp as my chisels.

Regards
Brit


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## CroppyBoy1798 (26 Apr 2009)

ABW is American Black Walnut :wink:


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## nikko59 (3 Mar 2015)

Hi. I know that this was a long time ago but can you remember where you got the pivot hardware from?


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## blackrodd (3 Mar 2015)

All I can find seem to be from http://www.productsamerica.com/
I expect the post will kill it!
Could you use a coach bolt each end, pocket the nut, pellet and sleeve the outer?
Regards Rodders


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## VanTheMainMan (4 Mar 2015)

That is very nice Mark!!! Well done, your wife must be super proud of you. Just watch out, she now knows what you can do, soon you will have a list 17 meters long of what she wants done!!!!


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## TrimTheKing (12 Mar 2015)

nikko59":3i0bhhbf said:


> Hi. I know that this was a long time ago but can you remember where you got the pivot hardware from?



Wow this is from a loooong time ago! 

The pivot was simply a tee nut knocked into the back side of the crib arm (the side that faces the support arm), a machine screw through that from the crib side and passing through a ball race recessed into the support arm and glued in. 

I can take a pic for you if you like?

Cheers
Mark


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## TrimTheKing (12 Mar 2015)

VanTheMainMan":27a9hgdo said:


> That is very nice Mark!!! Well done, your wife must be super proud of you. Just watch out, she now knows what you can do, soon you will have a list 17 meters long of what she wants done!!!!



Thanks Van

Yep she was very happy, and so is my daughter (who this was made for and is now 6) as she's now claimed it for all her dolls and teddies!



Cheers
Mark


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