Bed made from cherry
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RL.
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Here are some photos of a bed I just completed for my youngest son. The bed is made from solid cherry with a headboard veneered with a cherry crotch veneer. This is the second bed that I have made and was an enjoyable and quite simple project.
I have found that the most difficult part of making a bed is accurately drilling the holes for the bed bolts and cross dowels. Because the components are also large and heavy it is hard to move things around, and for this reason I completed most of the construction in my garage instead of my workshop.
The curved rails were shaped and refined with spokeshaves and rasps and the bedposts were shaped with an Auriou rasp. I recently posted a little video on youtube showing how I did this.
I love veneering and this headboard is the largest panel I have ever attempted. It came out highly satisfactorily.
The finish is very simple. All surfaces receive a couple of coats of shellac, and then the solid wood surfaces receive a coat of very thin Tried and True oil. After letting it cure for a full day, I buffed it out. After another week I buffed it out again to make it super smooth in case any oil bled up to the surface and to ensure everything was fully cured. The headboard received a few more coats of shellac applied with a fad but no oil.
Finally I applied a coat of Antiquax original wax and then polished it with a cloth. It all feels lovely to touch and smells of cinnamon too!
I included a photo of the headboard before I applied any finish so you can see how the shellac and wax changed its appearance.
Thanks for looking.
P.S. One of the photos is duplicated but I do not know how to delete it.
7 September 2013 at 9:43 am #18215That is beautiful! Cherry is perhaps my favorite of all woods. That veneer is stunning and the finish really brings out the beautiful color of the wood. Gorgeous.
7 September 2013 at 11:53 am #18221nice work RL really beautiful can you share the you tube link
"we can learn what to do, by doing" Aristotle
7 September 2013 at 12:11 pm #18225RL said:
“The finish is very simple. All surfaces receive a couple of coats of shellac, and then the solid wood surfaces receive a coat of very thin Tried and True oil.”RL, The bed looks fantastic. Just curious why you applied the shellac before the oil? I have done it the other way around but not this way.
Always looking to learn a new trick….
Located in Honeoye Falls NY USA. The Finger Lakes region of Western NY.
"If you give me 6 hours to fell a tree, I will take the first 4 to sharpen my axe" Abe Lincoln
7 September 2013 at 9:18 pm #18245Looks wonderful Richard 😉
Those were big old veneers and the matching looks great.Dagenham, Essex, England
Thanks everyone for the kind comments.
Here is the youtube link for the Auriou rasp demo.
Brett,
I know that it may see counter-intuitive to apply shellac before oil since it seals the wood somewhat, but I have found that a couple of thin coats of shellac improve the look and feel of an oil finish on cherry. I don’t get any blotching and the feel is like glass. Tried and True oil can take a long time to cure and I think the shellac helps it not to penetrate too deeply and shortens the curing time. I can’t really explain why it works- I just know the finish looks and feels great.
I use shellac on everything and often I only use shellac and wax, but for cherry I like to use this particular oil.
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