Popular Woodworking 2002-06 № 128, страница 34

Building the

Perfect Bed

Your bed needs to be one of the toughest pieces of furniture you own. Learn the best way to install traditional bed hardware and then build this stunning pencil-post bed.

Building a bed is a great project for beginning woodworkers. There aren't a lot of parts, the joinery is simple and the results can be impressive. We spend one-third of our lives sleeping in bed, but this piece of furniture also is a place to read, watch TV and play with the kids during waking hours. For those reasons, a bed needs to be extra sturdy. You also need to be able to knock it down easily into parts to get it through the door.

The ultimate piece of hardware that satisfies both these needs is the lowly bed bolt. When installed properly, a bed bolt creates the strongest woodworking joint I can imagine. And with a wrench, you can disassemble a bed in minutes.

Sure there are other kinds of bed hardware that attach the rails to the posts, but if you know the tricks to installing bed bolts, you'll never use anything else again.

I've built a lot of beds for clients throughout the years. And one of my most popular designs is this pencil-post bed. In Colonial times, pencil-post beds were draped with curtains at night to conserve heat and increase privacy. The high posts were never meant to be seen. Over the years the simple straight posts gave way to octagons and more ornate and carved forms.

A lot of plans for pencil posts show the woodworker shaping the octagonal taper with a drawknife. With my method, you can cut a perfect taper in 10 minutes for each post. (Editor's note: For another method, check out Nick Engler's Ingenious Jigs column on page 28.)

Even if you don't want to build this particular bed, all of the construction principles apply to whatever type of bed you want to make. Plus, I've included some of the rules to f ollow when building beds. There aren't many, but they're important.

Begin With the Posts

This particular bed was made using cherry, but I've made a lot of these in maple, too. Cut your posts from 10/4 rough lumber and cut them about 1" longer than stated in the cut

by Troy Sexton

Troy Sexton designs and builds custom furniture in Sunbury, Ohio, for his company, Sexton Classic American Furniture. Troy is a contributing editor for Popular Woodworking.

32 Popular Woodworking June 2002