I am making a Mission style bed, from quartered sawn white oak, for my wife.  The design was inspired by Tom McLaughlin, Jeremy Zietz, Kevin Rodel, Jeff Miller, Fine Woodworking magazine, WOOD magazine, and Woodsmith magazine.  I hope it is not a lesson in making expensive scrap.  I finished the matching nightstand a few months back.  You can see it here.  This design allows for a queen size box spring and mattress and will have the same veneer and mother-of-pearl inlay as the nightstand.  To help me with the joinery, I made a full-size prototype of one leg and its interfaces.  The design uses grade-8 bolts and weld nuts to attach the side-rails to the legs.  I incorporated concentric mortises and a slip tenon so the bolts would not be visible from the front.  The tenon will be glued into the leg.  The side-rail to leg appears to be a little complicated, but with a few shop made jigs it all should fit together. 

The leg double mortise requires three jigs.  The 1st jig is used to route the 5/8”  mortise for the slip tenon.  The 2nd small indexing jig positions into the 5/8” mortise and then the 3rd jig is positioned over top the small jig.  The 3nd jig is clamped secure and then the 2nd jig is removed.  The 3rd jig is used to route the 1-1/4” mortise, which will accept the side-rail. 

The bolt & washer T-slot mortise and the cover plate mortise are routed using separate jigs.  These two jig are located about the rail center line and the T-slot jig has a locator on the back side to assure the longitudinal position. 

The mortises routed in the end of the side-rails uses the 1st jig with a ½” thick shim.

I plan to use heavy duty furniture levelers in the bottom of each leg to assist with any unevenness in the bedroom floor.

Handling and correctly positioning the long and heavy lumber will be a challenge for me in my small basement shop.  Thanks for looking.  Danl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Queen sized bed i made many years ago for us.  it's hard to see because of the comforter, but there are 2 drawers on each side for storing stuffs.  the mattress just sits on plywood, no box spring needed, and the drawers just clear the legs of the side tables, so very little wasted space.  like to be able to sit on the end of the bed, so low rise foot board.  side rails connect to the head board and foot board with some hidden hardware (rockler sourced).  just had to cut a small mortise in the head/foot board, and a small rabbit on the end of the side rail.

 

lots of ways to do this. 

 

looks good.

found it, hardware used:

 

https://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-wrought-steel-bed-rail-fasteners-4-pack-select-size

 

Love it Dan. Especially clever detail to conceal the rail bolts. Glad you're incorporating the inlay design you created for night stand??? or was it dresser? Maybe both?

The tall (5~10"?) mattresses these days don't seem to need box springs.  That would move the rails higher, and allow more storage under the bed.

 

Or the dog could store all his toys under there and also have a place to hide in T-storms?

Danl, that's going to be one beautiful bed! Excellent craftsmanship, my friend. 

4 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Danl, that's going to be one beautiful bed! Excellent craftsmanship, my friend. 

 

I agree 100%

Nothing wrong with the design I can see, except I'd chamfer nearly every exposed corner on every part.  As mentioned above there are blind rail connections out there that would be less work than the pocket and plate to cover it. Maybe make the slat a little thinner so a small chamfer on the rails can pass by but leave a little flat for the chamfered slats to rest on.  Chamfers or a small 1/8" roundover maybe.  I like the faceting effect of small chamfers on parts personally, and they take the sharp off the edges. 

4D

An observation:  when designing beds, recess any under-mattress/box storage.  Particularly as you get older, you learn to tuck your heel and calf as close to under your seat position as you can so that your feet are close to your center of gravity.  I think of it as "heel kick" space.  Something I learnt in physical therapy!

15 hours ago, Danl said:

Handling and correctly positioning the long and heavy lumber will be a challenge for me in my small basement shop.  Thanks for looking.  Danl

I feel you, @Danl 

 

Built this years ago for the neighbor kids. My basement shop only has one access- up the stairs around thru the living room and out the front door. Had to move some stuff in the shop for the assembly. All assembled, finished, disassembled, moved next door and then reassembled.

 

 

On 3/7/2023 at 6:23 PM, DAB said:

found it, hardware used:

 

https://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-wrought-steel-bed-rail-fasteners-4-pack-select-size

 

thanks Dab.  This option may be my plan "B".  

 

 

On 3/7/2023 at 7:26 PM, Grandpadave52 said:

Love it Dan. Especially clever detail to conceal the rail bolts. Glad you're incorporating the inlay design you created for night stand??? or was it dresser? Maybe both?

the plan is to incorp the inlay in night stand, bed, and dresser/chest.  thanks  

Danl

 

14 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

Nothing wrong with the design I can see, except I'd chamfer nearly every exposed corner on every part.  As mentioned above there are blind rail connections out there that would be less work than the pocket and plate to cover it. Maybe make the slat a little thinner so a small chamfer on the rails can pass by but leave a little flat for the chamfered slats to rest on.  Chamfers or a small 1/8" round over maybe.  I like the faceting effect of small chamfers on parts personally, and they take the sharp off the edges. 

4D

I do plan to either chamfer or round-over all edges but I did not think it was necessary for the prototype.  I may give the blind rail connections another look.  I'll also give the slat thickness another look.  Thanks for the input.   Danl

 

11 hours ago, PeteM said:

An observation:  when designing beds, recess any under-mattress/box storage.  Particularly as you get older, you learn to tuck your heel and calf as close to under your seat position as you can so that your feet are close to your center of gravity.  I think of it as "heel kick" space.  Something I learnt in physical therapy!

Thanks for the great advise, but currently there is no plan for storage under the bed.  Perhaps bed bunnies.

Danl

you can never have enough storage in a house.  worst case, you don't need the storage space, but now you don't have to worry about cleaning under the bed.

Q: Is your MatchFit fixture part of the bench or an add-on to a bench?

48 minutes ago, kmealy said:

Q: Is your MatchFit fixture part of the bench or an add-on to a bench?

I am using my shop made mortising jig to hold the bed leg.  It is an add-on to the bench.  Danl