Bed construction question
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Tagged: bed, headboard, mortise & tenon
- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 1 month ago by Matt McGrane.
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19 March 2015 at 2:40 pm #125692
Hi folks- I’m in the process of making toddler beds for my 2YO twins. These are sized to use the existing crib mattress, just bringing them closer to the floor and removing the walls of the crib. Building it out of off-the-shelf Home Depot pine boards.
I’m about halfway through the project, have the legs and rails cut, etc.
I’m using tenons to attach the rails to the legs. No need for bed bolts, as they’ll be less than 5′ long and less than 3′ wide, so they’ll make it up the stairs and through the doors easily.
I’m wondering though, about attaching the foot and head boards to the legs. My plan is to use a 1×8 as the foot board, and 2 1×8’s glued up as the head board. I was going to tenon those into the legs, 2 tenons on the foot, and 3 on the head, but I’m worried about wood movement across those panels.
Further, since I’m figuring on the rails carrying the bulk of the weight, I think I over-engineered those tenons to be 1/2″ thick by 1 1/4″ long (the legs are 2×2″ square). This doesn’t leave a ton of room for the head & foot board tenons, so I was thinking that I could do shorter tenons (3/4″) at the bottom, where the rail tenons would meet, and then beef them out with longer ones (1 1/4″) on the rest.
Since I don’t have rails/aprons to run below the head & foot board at the same level as the rails (as on a larger bed), the head & foot will be responsible for holding the left & right sides together as well, so I feel I need those longer tenons to help keep it all secure.
Any advice or recommendations?
Thanks in advance!
-Rob Maurizi19 March 2015 at 5:00 pm #125703Hi Rob. Sounds like a nice project. I think there are a couple of questions here. The first had to do with the footboard and headboard being so wide that if they were tenoned into the legs, the wood movement could cause splits. That is definitely a worry. The only thing I can think of to remedy that is to use a “frame and panel” type of construction. For example, if you want a 15″ wide (tall) headboard, have a 9 3/4″ panel (or maybe two panels separated by a vertical member) floating in between two horizontal 3″ rails. In this scenario, the rails have 3/8″ deep grooves to fit the panel. Also, each leg would have two mortises to take the rail tenons, but would also have a 3/8″ deep groove connecting the mortises (which are deeper) to accept the panel.
The second question has to do with tenon length and the long rail tenons overlapping with the header/footer tenons. Will you be centering the mortises in the legs? If so, and if your long rail mortises are at the same level as the lower header/footer mortises, then 1 1/4″ tenons will definitely intersect in the mortises. Even if you cut a 45° angle on the ends of the tenons, that leaves only 3/4″ of unchamfered tenon. If you had the mortises offset from center (closer to the outside faces, leaving a 1/4″ reveal) on the legs, then you could use 1 1/4″ tenons and they would only intersect 1/4″ and a small chamfer would allow 1″ of unchamfered tenon.
It seems that you also may not need to have the header/footer mortises at the same level as those for the long rails. The header and footer might want to be higher anyway because the mattress will have some height. Having said this, be aware of safety for your twins. You don’t want a little one’s head getting stuck in between a mattress and a headboard. Play with the vertical positioning of the headboard and footboard a little to see what works.
BTW, I think the 1/2″ tenon thickness is a good choice here with pine. Good luck and keep us posted on progress.
19 March 2015 at 8:48 pm #125708Matt- Thanks for your input. The leg & rail joinery is already cut, and the headboard panels are already glued up and sized roughly, so I’m trying to salvage what I’ve already done without making huge design changes. The mortises are centered on the legs, so yes.. 3/4″ on each side of the mortise. And the plan for the head & foot would be for the lower edge of them to match the lower edge of the rail, so there shouldn’t be any issue of anyone getting caught in there (incidentally, that’s what’s making this such a challenge… Other beds we have in the house have a standard table construction around the bottom with separate panels for the “head” & “foot” boards and a good gap in between).
But, in thinking more about this today, along with your feedback, I had the following idea (see the not-necessarily-to-scale attachment if my description isn’t clear)…
Do a single tenon on the head & foot board along with what would amount to a gigantic tongue or haunch that runs nearly the full width of the board. Figure maybe an inch shy on each end. On the corresponding leg, I’d cut a groove that’s 1/8″ to 1/4″ longer than the tongue. I think this would allow the panel to expand outward from the tenon. By stopping the tongue & groove short of the full width of the board you wouldn’t see the groove once the joint is assembled.
I’d place the joint above that of the rail so that all of the tenons could be a good size without colliding.
If this sounds like it would work (in my newbie head, it does!), would you suggest a 3/8″ tongue & groove depth?
Thanks so much!
-RobAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.20 March 2015 at 3:41 am #125718Rob, that looks like an interesting solution to the expansion problem. If you only glue the full length part of the tenon, then the haunch or stub tenon part can move within the groove in the leg. I might worry a little about whether or not the single tenon will be able to keep the bed from racking side to side. Maybe if the long part of the tenon was a little wider (like 4″) it would add more glue surface, but not too much to cause expansion problems. And yes, I think 3/8″ or maybe 1/2″ would be an adequate stub tenon length is you decided to use this method. But I do think that it’s likely a gap will develop between the headboard and the leg where it’s not glued.
These are the great things about designing your own furniture. It really makes you think about wood movement, joinery, and strength for purpose. And time will tell if the solution you come up with stands up to abuse. It is a kid’s bed, after all!
BTW, I’m a former Jersey guy, too. Used to live in the Somerville and Flemington area.
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