Log Bed questions

[tim]

I am cutting down some of my Alder trees and plan to make a queen sized bed. I will use a 6" log for the 4 posts, 4" for the rails and 2-3" for the spindles. The tools I have are 1/2 drill with various sized paddle bits up to 2" and a draw knife. My tenons will be made using the drawknife (don't have a tenon bit). I plan to secure the headboard/footboard rails with lag bolts (through the outside into the tenon) and then cover the hole with handmade plugs (as seen in the link below). My question is what is the best method for ensuring the bed won't sway and lean and is solid once it's assembled? Also, I don't want to use a box spring (matress only) so I will need to have some sort of frame slats between the side rails for the mattress to sit on. I might use a piece of plywood but am open to suggestions..

Please send any ideas you have for this my way.

Here are a couple pictures of the bed I made for my dog.

Thanks, Tim

[Tim W]

satisfaction.

fwiw if I was doing that king of backwoods carpentry I would add a hand axe to my tool kit and maybe a adze too. I would also say to myself that if I am working this way then steel bolts, glues and plywood are all outlawed. If you can cut the mortise and tenon joint, draw bore it and peg with a cleft peg. The joint will be good for all time as long as you have followed sound instinct on the proportions - tenon not too thin and peg not too fat to drive in.

Slats? yeah, or leather straps, or a lattice of round wood, wicker hurdle style. Seems a shame to introduce machined timber.

Good luck,

tim W

[J T]

Sat, Nov 25, 2006, 11:42am (EST-3) [e-mail] doth query: My question is what is the best method for ensuring the bed won't sway and lean and is solid once it's assembled?

Probably about 50 years back my grandfather made two double-size bunk beds using pine logs. He cut the logs to length, then spiked everything together. Very solid, no swaying, no leaning. This was for a hunting cabin, so nothing fancy, but I would imagine they're still in use.

This was the same guy that designed a cabin made from pallets. Everything was pre-cut, then carried about 300 miles north, and assembled into a cabin in one day. The whole thing went together like a giant puzzle, and everything fit - I'm still amazed. The next day it was covered with tar paper, and ready for use. All this was in the winter, at the start of deer season, with about 2 foot of snow on the ground - we spent the first two nights in a tent, and the rest of the week in the cabin, with a sheet metal stove for heat, and a wood cookstove for cooking. The bunk beds in that one were made out of slab lumber, and also double-mattress size. The "fancy" cabin, a log cabin with the log bunk beds, was made a few years later. The logs were well cured but all twisted, so were cut into about 3' chunks then set between

2X12 studs and spiked into place - that one went together in just a bit longer than the pallet wood cabin - in summer this time - and all cutting was by two-man crosscut saw. As far as I know, both cabins are still there, and still usable, but last I knew the pallet cabin was being used for storage, but could still be usable for humans. The cludgie was, and maybe still is, a two-holer.

There was a fancy cabin down by the lake, with fancy log beds, and as far as I can recall, they were spiked together too. Personally, I'm not much of a fan of log beds.

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