Bed Construction

[stoutman]

I'm gonna be making a bed for my 2-year old son which will be the first bed I have made. What is the best way to attach the bed rails to the foot/head board? Bed bolts? Mortised bed rail fasteners? I want to be able to take the bed apart when needed (detach rails from foot/head board).

Thanks

[FriscoSoxFan]

on "Bed Rails"

Jay

[jo4hn]

Go with the mortised fasteners. Easy to detach yet strong enough to prevent wobble and most creaking. Hope that's decipherable. Twitch. Anyway you can get them at the Borgs, Rocklers, other places. mahalo, jo4hn

[Phisherman]

Either purchase the hardware specifically made for beds, or you can make your own. I made my mammoth workbench so that it can be disassembled and moved easily. I used mortise and tenon joinery, but drilled holes to embed a nut and bolt to keep the bench together.

[Jim]

I've used both bed bolts and interlocking metal pieces (from Lee Valley). The bed bolts are by far the strongest connection in terms of keeping the pieces "locked" together and prevent rocking of the headboard/footboard. The interlocking pieces do a fine job of keeping the bed together, but the headboard will still be able to rock slightly.

Keep in mind though that the bed bolts require at least 3/4" material (I usually use 1"). Also, you will be able to see the bed bolt from the end of the footboard and it will require a cap. On two of my beds I have been able to hide the cap with inlay that could be removed. On one bed I used bed bolts for the headboard and the interlocking metal brackets on the footboard. On my last bed I made the leg wide enough so that I could mill a slot into it and the bed rail to use the bed bolts without seeing them externally. The slot looked a little like:

0== | ==0 with the "o" big enough to fit the bolt/nut and a wrench. This actually worked very well.

Hope this helps, Jim

"stoutman" wrote in news:5VQrd.25664$ [e-mail]: