Popular Woodworking 2002-06 № 128, страница 36

Mark the taper on two sides of each post (below), band saw proud of the line (right) and then joint each face. Mark the taper on the other two faces and repeat.

It takes a steady hand on your router, but it's pretty easy to chamfer the edges of the tapered sides into an octagon (left). Here's a closeup of the end of the post when you've chamfered all four edges (above). It looks a little banged up, but once you cut off that extra 1" it will look perfect.

list. Joint and plane the posts down to 2¹/4" square.

With the posts square, now is the best time to lay out and cut all the mortises for the rails, the footboard and headboard. All of the mortises are ³/4" wide and deep and centered on the posts. My mortiser can handle a ³/4" bit, so I cut the mortises in one pass. If you have a benchtop machine, use a ³/8" bit and cut the mortises in two passes.

If you're building this particular bed, you need to pay extra attention to the mortises for the headboard. Make the bottom mortise so it fits tight around the tenon. But make the top mortise so there's V8" slop up and down. This allows the headboard to expand and contract without exploding.

Make the Pencil Posts

First lay out the taper on the four posts. The taper begins 27" off the floor and then tapers in ^5/8" on all four sides.

Because I build so many beds, I made a template that lays out this taper without measuring. You can lay it out using a ruler and a long length of scrap.

Now cut this taper on all four sides using your band saw. Then clean up the saw blade marks by running each face of the post over your jointer.

Next you want to turn that four-sided tapered post into an eight-sided tapered post. The easiest way to do that is with a bearing-guided 45° chamfer bit in a hand-held router. First mark out the octagon shape on the top of the post and set the depth of your router's cut so it's just a little shy of the line. Now mark on all four corners of the post where the taper should end.

Make a test cut on the top of the post (you'll lose the top 1" later, so it can look a little sloppy) and

Clamp your self-centering doweling jig to the tenon and drill the long hole for the bed bolt (above).When it's complete, here's what it looks like (left).

STANDARD MATTRESS SIZES

You want your mattress to fit close against the rails. As a rule of thumb, make your rails (between tenons) the same length as your box spring's width and length. With this particular bed design, you'll get the right gap.

Width Length Twin 39 75

Double or full 54 75-80 Queen 60 80-84

King 76 80-84

California King 72 84

STANDARD BED HEIGHTS

When determining where to put your rails on the posts, aim to end up with your mattress at one of these heights:

• 18"-high Bed:A common height for a platform bed. When you sit on this bed, your knees will be bent.

• 25"-high Bed: The most common bed height.When sitting on the bed, your legs will be mostly extended, but your feet will reach the floor.

• 36"-high Bed: Common on antique beds.When sitting on the bed, your legs will not reach the floor.