I currently have a queen-size, four-poster bed with metal rails. As with all metal-rail beds, the torque on the header and footer have stripped the screws out of the posts. The bed now wiggles quite a bit and squeaks all over.

I'm thinking of making a bed. If I can't convince my wife to let me make a platform bed (and have the posts not really supporting the weight of the bed), then I'm wondering what my best bet for joinery would be.

I'm considering have the side rails be half-blind dovetail in the side of the posts and having the headboard and footboard attach to the posts with bed bolts (one of which runs through the tail on the rail to keep it from popping out. I'm worried that the natural torque/stress on the dovetail joint will cause the tail or its socket to compress a bit over time and result in the same sort of play in the bed that I'm trying to get away from.

The other possibility that I have in mind is a through-tenon with tusk. Will I have to regularly hammer the tusk in to keep it from loosening? Can I run a bed-bolt through the tusk to keep it tight?

If I went with straight bed bolts, how would that go? Do bed bolts get looser over time and require more and more frequent tightening?

If you were going to build a king-size, four-poster bed where the box-spring sits 15" off the floor, how would you attach the side rails to the posts so that the bed still won't wobble fifty years from now?

Thanks,
Patrick

On 4/28/2014 10:39 PM, wrote:
I currently have a queen-size, four-poster bed with metal rails. As with all metal-rail beds, the torque on the header and footer have stripped the screws out of the posts. The bed now wiggles quite a bit and squeaks all over.

I'm thinking of making a bed. If I can't convince my wife to let me make a platform bed (and have the posts not really supporting the weight of the bed), then I'm wondering what my best bet for joinery would be.

I'm considering have the side rails be half-blind dovetail in the side of the posts and having the headboard and footboard attach to the posts with bed bolts (one of which runs through the tail on the rail to keep it from popping out. I'm worried that the natural torque/stress on the dovetail joint will cause the tail or its socket to compress a bit over time and result in the same sort of play in the bed that I'm trying to get away from.

The other possibility that I have in mind is a through-tenon with tusk. Will I have to regularly hammer the tusk in to keep it from loosening? Can I run a bed-bolt through the tusk to keep it tight?

If I went with straight bed bolts, how would that go? Do bed bolts get looser over time and require more and more frequent tightening?

If you were going to build a king-size, four-poster bed where the box-spring sits 15" off the floor, how would you attach the side rails to the posts so that the bed still won't wobble fifty years from now?

Thanks,
Patrick


Tell you wife that if you build a platform bed you can have as many as
18 drawers under the bed.

I have designed and built a couple of beds this way. I have pictures if
you are interested. Other than the under bed drawers these beds look
traditional with head and foot boards.

wrote in message


If you were going to build a king-size, four-poster bed
where the box-spring sits 15" off the floor, how would
you attach the side rails to the posts so that the bed
still won't wobble fifty years from now?

1. I would make the side rails as wide as possible.

2. I would make the posts integral or well attached to the head and foot
boards. Sliding dovetails would be one way, hidden glue/screw blocks is
another.

3. I would add a 2x2 glue block, inside and vertically to the rails at each
end.

4. I would use plain old bolts through the glue blocks into threaded inserts
in the foot/head boards. A nicety is a dado in the head/footboard/posts
into which the rails fit.

That's pretty much how I built mine almost 30 years ago. It is a platform
bed, though, I wanted the 6 - 36x15x24" drawers in the platform




--

dadiOH
____________________________

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Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
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On Monday, April 28, 2014 10:39:48 PM UTC-5, wrote:
The other possibility that I have in mind is a through-tenon with tusk. Will I have to regularly hammer the tusk in to keep it from loosening?

I would go with this option. Cut your mortise first, then make the tenon to match, perfectly. Cut each the mortise and tenon to fit snuggly, no slop. Wood compression would result, more so, from poor quality or soft wood, not as a result of perfectly fitting jointery or any torque. Your tusk should not work its way out, unless the wood is ,again, soft and/or of poor quality. Maybe the previous looseness, of the rails, was the result of the nuts/bolts not being tightened, properly, in the first place, allowing an initial wobble, and it becme worse and worse, but *I wasn't aware that "..... ALL metal-rail beds" loosen and strip out their bolts, that way.

Can I run a bed-bolt through the tusk to keep it tight?

An additional bolt shouldn't be necessary, if the mortise and tenon are snug to begin with. If an additional bolt is needed, then, IMO, the initial mortise-tenon-tusk is severely lacking, in some way. If you are not confident with your mostising and tenoning skills, then practice on some scrap, before committing to the rails and posts. This would apply to your dovetails, also, if you go that route.

If you're considering adding extra bolts to the mix, why not just bolt the headboard to the wall, , then you'd have only one aspect, of the bed, to worry about wobbling, rather than two. *This would cut your "worry" percentage in half.... and you'd probably sleep better, too. **This is some Roy Underhill type logic.

A stand-alone bed frame? Have your headboard stand alone or upholster a new headboard (plywood), to stand-alone or hang on the wall (with French cleats). Differing headboards allows for changing the decor for the different seasons.

Sonny

On 4/29/2014 6:49 AM, dadiOH wrote:
wrote in message


If you were going to build a king-size, four-poster bed
where the box-spring sits 15" off the floor, how would
you attach the side rails to the posts so that the bed
still won't wobble fifty years from now?

1. I would make the side rails as wide as possible.

2. I would make the posts integral or well attached to the head and foot
boards. Sliding dovetails would be one way, hidden glue/screw blocks is
another.

3. I would add a 2x2 glue block, inside and vertically to the rails at each
end.

4. I would use plain old bolts through the glue blocks into threaded inserts
in the foot/head boards. A nicety is a dado in the head/footboard/posts
into which the rails fit.

That's pretty much how I built mine almost 30 years ago. It is a platform
bed, though, I wanted the 6 - 36x15x24" drawers in the platform





6? Where are the other 12 drawers? LOL

"Leon" lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in message


That's pretty much how I built mine almost 30 years
ago. It is a platform bed, though, I wanted the 6 -
36x15x24" drawers in the platform

6? Where are the other 12 drawers? LOL

Inside the other drawers

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net