Ep7 - Solid Timber Bedhead
The timless beauty of natural timber is often overlooked and hidden under coats of paint. Dale 'rescues' some well weathered heavy hardwood joists and solid wood cladding, and creates a beautiful bed head for one of the kids. The finished project looks professionally built, but is really very a simple process.
The tools Dale used were:
- Sawstop SST-JSS15-PRO Poratble Table Saw
- WB-6030 Carbatec Workbench
- Bora Centipede & Worktop
- Carbatec TH-BX330P Benchtop Spiiral Head Thicknesser
- Carbatec JN-BX200P Benctop Jointer
- Kreg KR-KPHJ320 Pocket-Hole Jig & screws
- Kreg KR-PRS2100 Router Table, powered by the Triton TRA-001B Router
Other consumables that were used are:
The Process:
- Using the Carbatec Jointer, flatten the primary face of the timber on all 4 pieces (if bowed, machine with bow side down, making several passes over the jointer until flat.)
- Turn the boards so that the new flat face runs against the jointer fence (set at 90deg to the cutterhead), and machine the first edge on all 4 boards, until flat and square along the boards length.
- Switching to the Carbatec Thicknesser, with the machined wide face, facing down, machine a 4 boards until they are smooth and all the same thickness (Dale stopped at about 25mm thick)
- Dale then stacks the boards against each other (with thier flattened edge facing down), and runs them through the thicknesser as one block, to clean up the last top rough edge, and keep them consistant in thier finished width.
- Mark out the desired finished lengths of the top & bottom boards, and the two side boards. Dale left the top & bottom wider to add some detail & style.
- Using the table saw, Dale makes the finish length cuts on the frame pieces.
- Switching to the Kreg Router Table (with the Triton router), Dale created a 20mm deep trench along the inside of the two side rails, inset approx 20mm from the front face. This trench must be at least the same width (or just slightly wider) as the thickness of your panelling. The panels should slide inside this trench. If you have an offcut, it is good practice to test your trench size and fitment.
- Using the Kreg 320 Pocket-Hole Jig, we create the joins on the inside of the frame, at the rear (behind where the panelling will cover the joins). Drill as many holes as required on both ends of the side pieces. Remeber that these holes should be on the same side as you trench.
- Attach the left & right sides to the bottom rail with appropriate Kreg screws. Use a stop block to ensure the sides are positioned perfectly centred.
NOTE: To add extra rigidity to your frame, you can also add mitred wedge blocks into the top & bottom corners. These can also easily be attached with Kreg Pocket-Holes and screws from the back of the bedhead.
- With the bottom and two sides in place, you can now measure the final lentgth required for the insert panelling. Measure from inside trench to inside trench, and cut 1-2mm short to aide fittment. Depending on the finished height of the bedhead, you may also need to rip cut the final board to the correct width. This board can be positioned top or bottom (depending on what side of the panel you cut).
- Slide the panelling into the open frame being carful not to skew a board while sliding them in.
- Once this is done, you can simply screw the top rail into place (adding diagonal bracing if required).
- Lightly sand and finish with two generous coats of Whille Waxes Hardwax Oil (with a fine sand after drying & in between coats, to give you a smooth finsh).
- Depending on your bed construction and want, the beadhead can be attached to the bed frame or your wall directly. Always select a fastening system sufficiant to carry the weight of the bedhead and anything that may be placed on it.
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