Starting a daybed

This one got weird pretty quick. I had an idea for a hanging daybed so I got down to the local lumberyard and came back with some cypress and oak (the oak is for another project) and some framing lumber.

That's a stack of lumber. The 3 boards on the right are 12' oak

I'm going for a twin size daybed, which is 38" x 75". So I started with a frame, then need to dress the cypress to make the pretty parts. I got a couple of 2x4's and (6) 1x6's in the cypress.

the original frame had too much flex

The scrap leftover from building the frame

Now with more stability! I added another 2x3 down the middle and some suports for the 2x4's

Dressing the cypress turned out to be interesting. Mostly because it all wasn't exactly cypress!

First I got it sized, straightened and cut to width

started with the 2x4's too

and back in the shed before hitting the planer

That's a lot of sawdust (ok, planer shavings)

Lumber that sits in the stacks gets the bacteria that puts a gray color onto the wood. You lose a lot of the detail until you dress the lumber properly - get it cut to width, straightened, and planed smooth to reveal the grain. I used a straight piece of factory lumber to get an edge drawn, then ran that through the tablesaw freehand. Then I calculated and ripped the final size that I needed, getting two finish boards out of each 1x6. In case there is any cupping in the 1x6, it's better to rip the final width before hitting the planer. When they did come through the planer, I found the problem - but I had questions after the table saw.

Now you can see the grain - it's all over the place!

You think these 3 boards are all red oak?

There is cypress, red oak, white oak, and poplar in there

I took it back to the lumberyard. They took back the non-cypress and non-12' oak boards and gave me some fresh cypress from the stacks. The original boards must have been stacked wrong, but now I've got more stuff to run through the planer.

New boards before the planer

and after. That's more consistent, and good looking stuff

So now I've at least got the right kind of lumber dressed and ready to cut and assemble. And the frame looks pretty good and sturdy. This could turn out to be a decent project after all!