# Difficulty with proportions



## AndyBoyd (27 Dec 2005)

Now I'm not really one for full scale drawings nor making mockups with cheap wood, (ala Philly and his nice Maloofian Chair), but this does mean every now and again I make something , stand back and say hmm not as I imagined. 

I'm making an Arts n Crafts bed for my youngest, mahogany with ebony details, from a Gary Rokowski article in FWW. Now the article was over a American Double bed, now scaling this down to a children's single bed was as you can see from the photo below not as easy as I would have liked. 
The taper on the top of the legs needs to be steeper (no worries as less wood is always easy compared to creating more bulk) but the cross members seems to be too small, so they will have the be remade a bit higher - oh well as least I have some spare mahogany. Even if Ihave to start planing again!







But it was nice to spend the day in the workshop heating on watching it snow outside. Happy Chritmas one and all

Rest of the photos http://croeso.typepad.com/photos/owains_arts_n_crafts/index.html


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## DaveL (27 Dec 2005)

Andy, 

For what it's worth, I think only the top cross member is a bit on the small side, the rest look OK, but then I am not an Arts n Crafts expert, I am sure that one will be along to put us right.


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## AndyBoyd (27 Dec 2005)

Yes that too, we'll see how they look once the cloud lift centre pieces are wider (higher)

If only I could use SketchUp, but then again it's so much fun making I don't really mind the too and froing on the design, especially as it not for a living , just for the passion.


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## tim (27 Dec 2005)

Andy

Don't forget that with a mattress on, you won't see the lower frame of the headboard anyway and the proportions of the footboard will be similarly disguised by bedding and the mattress edge.

Cheers

Tim


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## Philly (28 Dec 2005)

Andy 
What about narrowing the inner pair of stiles slightly? That might help. or not
Like the bed though!
Cheers
Philly


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## Steve Maskery (28 Dec 2005)

Andy,
What they said. FWIW, I think only the top rails need to be changed, and even they are not so awful that you couldn't get away with keeping them. Rest looks great.
I didn't realise mahogany was an A&C timber, I'd always associated the style with dark oak, but then I'm no A&C expert at all.
I look forward to seeing it finished.
Cheers
Steve


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## AndyBoyd (20 Jan 2006)

Well I rebuilt the bed with larger central rails - Much better - thanks everyone for guidance etc.  





(What is interesting in this photo is all the pieces look different colours, I spent a little time using different strengths of button shellac to even that out. It must be a camera effect as under house (filament) and workshop (fluorescent) lighting it looks just fine.)

There will be small vertical piece on the outside of the central styles (15mm square) with more ebony square plugs. Now we've decided which orientation in the bedroom the bed will have these final four pieces will be fitted so they are on the visible side of the foot and headboard when you walk in the room






In this project I made use on my new Microplane to bring in the ebony details - I'm very impressed with this addition to the hand tool collection.






Fortunately Owain slept in his new bed for the first time last night (was in his cot till now) and did not fall out! Good man.

More photos here:
http://croeso.typepad.com/photos/owains_arts_n_crafts/index.html

We now realise with the IKEA chest of drawers in the room , the top now does not match the bed (laminated pine with antique finish), fortunately I have enough mahogany left to remake the top - (lets just see if I can accurately drill holes to enable those knock down fittings to be aligned - hmm could always drill though the old top into the mahogany I guess? Then I'll ask my old man who has a lathe to knock me out some mahogany handles - hah the job list never gets smaller

The question is does this count as storage for the comp? I guess overnight children storage is stretching it a bit :roll:


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## dedee (20 Jan 2006)

Andy, a nice design and good looking bed. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of course and as long as the young fella slept you got that right too.



AndyBoyd said:


> lets just see if I can accurately drill holes to enable those knock down fittings to be aligned
> 
> Would dowel points help?
> 
> ...


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## AndyBoyd (20 Jan 2006)

Ive got dowel points but when transferring many holes I find them difficult, is there a trick to this? That I'm missing. :?:


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## dedee (20 Jan 2006)

Andy the most I have done in 1 go I think was 4 - I had more trouble at the time keeping the drill perfectly upright. More recently I have only used them in pairs and with a static drill there were no problems.

Andy


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## AndyBoyd (20 Jan 2006)

From memory there will be 8 in this, I have a pillar drill with a large table so drilling at 90 won't be the issue for me, but just drilling in the right place!

Ah for a CNC miling machine :roll:


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## Steve Maskery (20 Jan 2006)

Andy
Nice bed!

As to dowel joints. I don't use them at all, there are much better alternatives now, like biscuits or loose tenons, stronger and easier. Much better face-grain-to-face-grain surface contact

But if you do like dowel joints, you used to be able to get Dowel Points, little studs with a point in the centre. You drill holes in one component, put in the Points, and clamp to the mating piece. The points mark exactly where to drill, no measuring. With a lip and spur bit in the indentation, you should get perfect mating holes. Wolfcraft used to do them, and I bet they still do.

HTH
Steve


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## edmund (26 Jan 2006)

Andy,
I've found a plan for a child's spindle bed in my book of reprints of articles from Gustav Stickleys The Craftsman magazine. The dimensions are as follows:
Headboard: 4'4"H, 3'W (2" x 2" posts)
Footboard: 3'4"H, 3'W (2" x 2" posts)
Distance between Head and Foot: 5'6"
Internal width for the matress: 2'8".
The side rails are 6" wide. Measuring from the plan, the top of the rail is 15" from the ground. The top of the runner that the matress rests on is 10-11" from the ground.
The article states that "...It is made low so that a child can easily get in and out without help...".


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## Chris Knight (27 Jan 2006)

Andy,

Most dowel jigs are hard to use and inaccurate in my experience. Two new ones that are very good are the Dowelmax and the Joint Genie. I have both and they do a flawless job. Neither is cheap but they are worth what they cost in my view. Dowels and biscuits do overlap in application but there also significant areas where dowels do job biscuits can't.

http://www.dowelmax.com/

http://www.mtmc.co.uk/product.asp?cooki ... P_ID=17157


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