Double bed

The double bed completed

Bed assembled

I have assembled the bed in place and am thrilled at the result

Varnishing bed

I have applied two coats of varnish to the bed parts

Platform underside painted

Instead of wasting valuable stain and varnish on parts of the bed unseen, I have been protecting the wood with paint that was colour matched to a sample of stained wood.

Bed stained

I have stained the wood with a rosewood stain, I am very pleased by the results. I did not stain the slats however as the mattress would cover that anyway.

Sanding bed

I have sanded the entire bed project.

Platform glue and fasteners

I glued and screwed together the bed platform

Tapping bolt holes

My markings for the tap locations were off, so I just attached the brackets to the headboard and footboard then clamped those upside down to the platform to get the exact places drilled and tapped.

Marking brackets

Clamped the bed together with the angle brackets to mark there exact positions for drilling and mortising.

Bed frame glue up

Gluing the bed frame used up all the cargo tie straps I had. I don't own large enough clamps for the task, but the ratchet tie straps made an excellent substitute.

Headboard dryfit

Headboard assembled, looks good

Footboard dryfit

Finished dry fit of the footboard. It holds together without glue and stands on it's own.

Plywood cut

Plywood cut to one inch over the size of the opening in the headboard and footboard.

Cutting plywood

As the cut I need to make in the plywood is too big for my radial arm saw, I must use plywood on sawhorses with a straightedge as a skill saw guide.

Headboard and footboard frames

Dry fitting of the headboard and footboard frames

Split height mortise

I have cut the tenon for the split height mortise joints. The easiest way is to cut the 1 inch deep mortise, then after to cut the half inch deep notch as if it were its own mortise

New tenon style

As it is Friday the 13th mistakes were bound to happen.  I cut the original headboard too short and the tenons cracked the ends. I am using it in the footboard, the tenon will just have to be offset.

Bed platform

Dry fit of complete bed platform, looks good.

Headboard mortise and tenon

I have mortise and tenon jointed the headboard. Dry fit looks good

Headboard frame

Tonight I cut the frame of the headboard for the double bed to size and marked all of the mortise and tenon joints.

Fitting slats

Today I cut up my pack of Lats to test fit. My mortises are not deep enough but the slats fit fairly nice.

Rotated lumber

In an effort to prevent warping, I have bundled the 2x3's. The sandiwich worked well but it was time to rotate the stock.

Bed platform frame

Dry fit of the bed platform frame

Tenons cut

Cutting the tenons was really quick with my radial arm saw, I still need to adjust them per hole but good progress.

Four corner mortises

I have routed and chiseled square the remaining mortises 

First real mortise

I under estimated this simple looking hole. But in the end I have a good square mortise.

Bed platform rails

I have routed the mortises for the bed slats. 

8 slat slots

I have finished eight of the slat slots for a bed. Some are better then others just from practice, the template did not help so much, I have been using the router by hand.

Bed slats template

Today I setup a template to route the place for the bed slats. It will take some time to make all 17 per bed. Sure the test hole is off center and too deep in one spot, but the template works and I should be ready to cut my bed slat holes.