I am planning in building a queen size bed (similar to
http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1410) out of a lot of cherry
4/4 stock that I acquired dirt cheap. I'm wondering if there are
educated opinions on whether this will provide adequate strength for
the bed rails, or whether I should build thicker rails by either
laminating or purchasing thicker stock.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

I'm in the process of building the Craftsman style bed from Wood Magazine a
couple of issues ago. FWIW the plans call for 1 1/4 inch rails and angle iron
bolted to the inside to hold the matress. This is going to be one heavy bed.
Good Luck
Mike in Arkansas

"Mike in Arkansas" wrote in message
...
I'm in the process of building the Craftsman style bed from Wood Magazine
a
couple of issues ago. FWIW the plans call for 1 1/4 inch rails and angle
iron
bolted to the inside to hold the matress. This is going to be one heavy
bed.
Good Luck
Mike in Arkansas

Actually a queen size bed generally does not have a central support as does
a king size so the side rails need to take the full weight of the
matress/boxspring plus occupants . Not considering "dynamic" loads.

So I would go for a little better than 4/4". Perhaps a glued stringer
attached to the lower inside of the rails rather than angle iron might be a
good solution .

by the way there is a good article in the latest FWW , it is worth a look, I
have built many beds in the past and the artical offers good advice .....mjh

Hi Mike,
My old bed ( a double) had 3/4" rails which had two cleats on each rail that held
a cross member to hold the box spring. When I got my new mattress set, again a
double, the instructions said to use 5 cross members for support. This may
reflect modern box spring construction but the point of this post is to suggest
that angle iron supporting the parameter of the box spring may not be the way to
go. An investigative trip to the mattress store may be in order. Cheers, JG

Mike in Arkansas wrote:

I'm in the process of building the Craftsman style bed from Wood Magazine a
couple of issues ago. FWIW the plans call for 1 1/4 inch rails and angle iron
bolted to the inside to hold the matress. This is going to be one heavy bed.
Good Luck
Mike in Arkansas

Ideally the load is straight down, so thickness is less important than
width. In reality, as we either know, or, if elderly, fondly recall, the
bed is often stressed in odd directions as well.

A 1 1/8" square strip glued on a 5 1/2" wide rail which has some provision
made to keep the rails from spreading should work here. Mine are pegged
slats, but other methods are possible.

"Not disclosed" wrote in message
om...
I am planning in building a queen size bed (similar to
http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1410) out of a lot of cherry
4/4 stock that I acquired dirt cheap. I'm wondering if there are
educated opinions on whether this will provide adequate strength for
the bed rails, or whether I should build thicker rails by either
laminating or purchasing thicker stock.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

Fine Woodworking current issue has the complete story on bed
construction. Lucky you.
Jack
Not disclosed wrote:
I am planning in building a queen size bed (similar to
http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1410) out of a lot of
cherry
4/4 stock that I acquired dirt cheap. I'm wondering if there are
educated opinions on whether this will provide adequate strength for
the bed rails, or whether I should build thicker rails by either
laminating or purchasing thicker stock.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:48:02 -0500, "George" george@least wrote:

Ideally the load is straight down, so thickness is less important than
width. In reality, as we either know, or, if elderly, fondly recall, the
bed is often stressed in odd directions as well.

There is a twisting force since the mattress(occupant) weight is
cantilevered from one side of the rail. Width is the most important
dimension but thickness is critical too. I recently made a queen
sized cherry bed (see
http://tomstudwell.com/News/Clares%20Bed/index.htm ) and used 1 1/2
inch by 5 inch rails with three angle brackets on each side to support
the mattress. It is rock solid but I wouldn't go any smaller than 1
1/4 thick rails - remember these stretch 80 inches.

TWS

Not disclosed wrote:

I am planning in building a queen size bed (similar to
http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1410) out of a lot of cherry
4/4 stock that I acquired dirt cheap. I'm wondering if there are
educated opinions on whether this will provide adequate strength for
the bed rails, or whether I should build thicker rails by either
laminating or purchasing thicker stock.

Thanks in advance,
Brian\

tubasix.

"George" george@least wrote in :

Ideally the load is straight down, so thickness is less important than
width. In reality, as we either know, or, if elderly, fondly recall,
the bed is often stressed in odd directions as well.

A 1 1/8" square strip glued on a 5 1/2" wide rail which has some
provision made to keep the rails from spreading should work here.
Mine are pegged slats, but other methods are possible.

"Not disclosed" wrote in message
om...
I am planning in building a queen size bed (similar to
http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1410) out of a lot of
cherry 4/4 stock that I acquired dirt cheap. I'm wondering if there
are educated opinions on whether this will provide adequate strength
for the bed rails, or whether I should build thicker rails by either
laminating or purchasing thicker stock.

Thanks in advance,
Brian



Those are almost exactly the dimensions I used for my daughter's bed. I
made dovetail slots in the inner rail for the mattress support slats. She
has no box spring, so I have about 10 cross slats to support the mattress
evenly.

--
John Snow
"Pull hard and it comes easy"

"Hitch" wrote in message

Those are almost exactly the dimensions I used for my daughter's bed. I
made dovetail slots in the inner rail for the mattress support slats. She
has no box spring, so I have about 10 cross slats to support the mattress
evenly.

I was wondering, how much bounce if any is attributed to the use of slats?
The reason I ask, is that I've been considering the construction of a
platform bed. Naturally, the mattress will be on a flat surface and I'm
wondering if I'd notice the lack of slats and the accompanying lack of
bounce. I like the bounce part of it and I'm thinking of trying to find some
what to incorporate slats into a platform bed, at least in the centre
portion of it. Opinions?

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 15:47:23 -0500, Upscale wrote:

I was wondering, how much bounce if any is attributed to the use of slats?

Oh, they bounce. Sometimes the bounce out. DAMHIKT.

The reason I ask, is that I've been considering the construction of a
platform bed. Naturally, the mattress will be on a flat surface and I'm
wondering if I'd notice the lack of slats and the accompanying lack of
bounce. I like the bounce part of it and I'm thinking of trying to find some
what to incorporate slats into a platform bed, at least in the centre
portion of it. Opinions?

The more support the better. Strength quadruples when you cut the
span in half.

Not disclosed wrote:

I am planning in building a queen size bed (similar to
http://www.furnitureplans.com/pi_products/1410) out of a lot of cherry
4/4 stock that I acquired dirt cheap. I'm wondering if there are
educated opinions on whether this will provide adequate strength for
the bed rails, or whether I should build thicker rails by either
laminating or purchasing thicker stock.

Thanks in advance,
Brian
My design of King sized and smaller uses 6x1 pine with 2x1 bearer
doweled/glued on the inside, for the king size I make a 6x1 (flat) with
3x2 re-enforcement underneath spine and a KING post (humping post) right
in the middle, having seen several beds fail due to lack of support, and
several bad backs too!

niel.

Oh, they bounce. Sometimes the bounce out. DAMHIKT.


Ha Ha! I once bounced one out. I didn't kill the dog that was under the bed
but it knocked it out cold. I was pulling out what I assumed was a dead dog
while wife went to get a cardboard burial box when it started to twitch. It
was never quite the same though :)
Mike in Arkansas