Hanging Full

 To keep going with the full size hanging bed, I need to start by cutting the runners to go under the frame, then keep wrapping the oak around the topside to get the look I wanted. I started with a single piece of 8/4 red oak about 7" wide, and ripped 2 straight pieces out of it about 3" wide. Then trimmed to length, put those rounded edges all over the place, finished and installed.

Attached the finished runners to the bottom of the frame

After discussion with the client, we settled on a stain and a topcoat, both from Old Masters finishes. I really love Old Masters products. She wanted a warm brown stain on the red oak, and topcoated with Ascend Exterior for a super durable, UV protected finish. I think I used a paint can to get the radius for those ends, drilled a 5/8" hole for the hanging hardware to mount, then ran all of the edges (including the inside of the 5/8" hole) past a 1/4" radius roundover bit on the router. The finished stringers are super clean, I think, functional, and attractive. Now if the rest of the bed turns out this nice.....

Started with the back

Added the front angles

Built out the arms

sweaty carpenter

The sides start as smaller pieces

Storing the bed becomes a challenge in space management

Added all of the verticals on the arms and back

Added the spacers between the side verticals. Base is now totally wrapped

Woodworking is done, time for finish

All of the angles to show off the woodworking

Of course this is when I ran out of stain and had to go buy more

That's better

All of the angles to see the finished product

Ella usually delivers these things with me, this time we took it to the UPS store

How we left it. Destination: Nebraska

Building these beds are pretty straightforward. I have a jig for the base, then put the stringers underneath. Wrap the base then with your finished material. I start with rough cut boards that are at least 6" wide. Cutting the boards to length first means you need to identify the component. Start with the corners, the front corners I did 19", the back corners were 21". Then rip a straight edge on the board, and rip to a width usually just under 3" so you get both sides of the corner piece from one cut board. Whatever width you choose, it has to be consistent throughout all of the skinny pieces.

After ripping to width, put the boards through the planer until you get a smooth surface. I use a finish nailer on the air compressor to attach everything from here on out. First join the corner pieces together at exactly a 90* angle. This creates a broad side and a pretty side - the broad side shows the joint, one face and one side of a board, then the pretty side of the corner is just a face. I put the pretty side where you get the most visibility, facing the front for the 19" boards, and facing the side for the rear corners. 

Once the four corners are established, you just have to fill in the gaps. An easy place to start is the front, it takes a full board running between the corner pieces. That's the only time you rip a straight edge, then rip a 45* bevel on the other side and use a sander to take the sharp corner off. 

Forming the arms and back stars with measuring between the corners and cutting a full board to that length. Then rip two < 3" widths (the exact same width as the corner pieces were) out of that, and plane it smooth. One of those pieces goes on top, and the other goes underneath the first one to make it stable. This "T" configuration adds strength and forms the basis for being able to attach everything else. The arm is exactly the same width as the pretty face of the front corner, so it has to be notched to fit around the pretty face of the back corner. Then the under-piece goes inside of both corners. 

After forming the T's for the arms and back, add the vertical pieces. On the sides, I want to maintain a 6" wide piece to cover the frame on both sides. Any wood you have left over after that can be ripped and planed to match the < 3" finished pieces used to form the arms and back. I always have a different amount of board left every time I build these beds, sometimes I have 2 pieces for each side and 1 for the back, this time I got 4 verticals on each side and back. Just be sure the sides have the same number of verticals and put the rest to stabilize the back. Also a long piece on the inside of the back goes a long way to stabilize the back. Fill in with the 6" wide stuff in between the verticals on the sides to finish off the woodworking.

After the carpentry is done it's time for sanding and finishing. It's a lot easier for me to sand with 80 and 120 grit on the belt sander after I put the pieces through the planer but before nailing them into the frame. Then I use a random orbit sander with 180/220/320 grit paper for a super fine look. Apply a stain, I used Old Masters Old American penetrating stain this time, then top coated with Old Masters Ascend Exterior for a rock hard finish. I hit the whole thing with 0000 steel wool between the stain & topcoat as well.

This bed is a really straightforward build, the customer in Nebraska absolutely loved it. The worst part for me was shipping, with a $750 charge UPS made more profit than I did on this one. But these beds are fun to put together, come out beautiful, and really make an impact on your exterior when they are installed.

See my Etsy store for available products

Kicking off 2 new builds

 For some foolish reason I decided to kick off two builds at the same time. The first was a HUGE announcement - after a year I finally made a sale from my Etsy store! A full size hanging daybed in Oak. We had some communication to work out the final details and I went off to buy supplies. At the same time (same day, in fact) I had another order come in for a new set of bunk beds. Frames are frames, so I dove into both projects at the same time.

That's a lot of supplies

Frame for the hanging double

Parts for the bunks

One twin bunk

Two twin bunks

Notice how the slats on the hanger go to the edge - it gets wrapped with oak

You can notice a difference between the two types of frames. For the twins, the 2x3's are fastened to 2x6's, then the slats sit inside because the 2x6's get sanded to form the outside of the box. For the hanger, the 2x3's get the slats on top and that is the end of the frame. 

With the supplies, I tried a new lumberyard that several people told me to check out. Raleigh Reclaimed turned out to be amazing. Not super expensive like a bunch of the other lumberyards I've used, and not fresh off of the saw air dried stuff like the main lumberyard. This oak was planed and kiln dried all in house. They had massive amounts of mahagony and all kinds of other species that made me drool. So this red oak is really nice.

For my next trick, I'll have to start working this oak to get the stringers built for the hanging daybed, and then get to wrapping the hanger. Then, assemble the bunks and build out the rest of their parts.

Boat Down

 I picked up some green white oak recently, 16' boards around 1x6. They need to dry for a while, I had one project in mind for them but ended up going a different direction so I think I'm going to make some countertops to replace the face grain countertops I built a while ago. Also, I've been thinking about taking down this boat anyway and coming up with a different design, more like a skiff. Finishing this boat doesn't feel like a good idea anyway, so I got some pictures of it before it heads to the scrap heap. 

Looks pretty good from this angle

But can you see how crooked that nose is? Not good

The yard is the final resting place

Looks pretty good right side up!

The White Oak

Walnut table and Sofa table

 I had some walnut left over from another project and needed a side table between the couch and a chair, so I took this really cool burl and started working up a tabletop. Also, while my back was out, we moved a floor lamp behind the couch. So I built a sofa table to take the couch off of the wall and make the lamp look more normal. On pinterest, I saw where someone cut an insert out to slide a power strip in there, and I think the family will love being able to plug in their phones from the couch. 

Used TotalBoat Epoxy to fill in a knothole and check

Drew the side rail and leg positions to get measurements

Getting some assembly

Sofa table taking shape

Detail of the cutout for the power strip

Sofa table is painted and stuck back there

The lamp fits right in there

Now with more power strip. The couch was blocking an outlet

To make the sofa table, I used a 2x6x8' and a 1x8x10', this is a huge couch. I cut the 2x6 up to the height of the back of the couch, and cut the same length off of the 1x8. Then just nailed the it all together with the finish nailer and cutout the drop for the power strip. A little sand & pain, this was easy and makes a big impact. 

For the walnut table, the top took a lot of time to prepare. I did an epoxy pour to fill in a knot hole and a check in the wood, those sanded out nice. I took a lot of time to shape the rounded corners and get everything filled and smoothed just right. The base was just some extra stock I had leftover, cut to a specific size that I just made up. Legs and rails aren't even joined together with anything special. I used pocket screws to attach the top. Also went a little overboard with the roundover bit on the router. I still have to build a drawer - I'll get to it eventually. The wife wanted a table that was a specific height for this lamp to sit, so this got the table in place. The drawer can wait.