Question about bed frame brackets

[Rich]

I may need plans for a head board and foot board. The problem I'm facing with my homemade design is installing the brackets: they go with the grain, which it will split the wood with the weight and stress (like kids jumping on the bed would split them like firewood). How should the head/foot boards be constructed so that bed frame brackets can be installed? Thanks.

[Paul B Deemer]

The best ways I have found is

My favorite look:

1) the embed the bed bolt nut in the lower tenon of the headboard/footboard. The bolt is in the rail, which must be extra thick to accomodate.

or

2) Use a barrel type nut embedded in the rail of the bed, and the bolt goes through the post of the headboard/footboard, and then you use a decorative bolt cover.

or

3) If you don't want to use bolts, you can drill a large hole and fill it with a hardwood dowel "peg" to create cross-grain.

One of the more recent issues of Fine Woodworking went through the merits/drawbacks of the different ways to tackle this issue.

[Patriarch]

"Rich" wrote in news:aIhJd.5066$xu.2666@fed1read05:

Cheat. Use a heavy duty metal frame to support the mattress and box springs. If you use the wood bed frame boards at all, this makes them pretty much decorative.

Patriarch