Making a bed

[Locutus]

I am in the process of purchasing material for this bed:

have already purchased the posts and the molding in pine. The headboard, footboard and canopy will be made from ply.

For the sideboards and frame I was considering just using standard 2x's that you would use for framing/decking. Does anyone foresee any problems doing this? (warping/finishing/etc)?

All comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

[Enoch Root]

How you fold the corners at the foot is very important.

er

[Locutus]

I take that back... not ALL comments/suggestions are appreciated. :)

[Josh]

I've used framing lumber before along with pine in a couple of projects. It's usually spruce or fir, and it usually looks very similar to the pine in the end. It's hard to find good solid pieces without loose knots or checks, though, and I've found it to be a lot less stable than other lumber. I don't know if it's because the places I've bought it from had stored it outside or if it wasn't kiln dry it or what, but I found that it tended to bow or twist much more than S4S pine. Probably stickering it and air drying for a couple of weeks would help.

Josh

Locutus wrote:

[George]

There's the rub. Spruce does not look like pine, and fir even less. You'll have to shop around to get similar wood. Then there's the splinter and knot problem.

Construction grade no, "C" select and better, sure.

[Dave Jackson]

Keep in mind - framing lumber is only required to be dried to 19% moisture content. This is fine for building a house, not so fine for building furniture. Also, finding useable 2x framing lumber may prove to be a real challenge as framing lumber commonly has many defects. If you can find some useable, sticker and let it dry for a few weeks at minimum. --dave

[Steve DeMars]

Depends on how much you and your wife weigh?