Wood that I could » Wood

Boyce Bed Part Three

Greg — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:33:32 +0000

Cross pieces

The bed will be supported by four big posts with 2 x 4 cross braces. These will go just above the mattress so the pillows don’t fall off the end.

The slots give the joint a lot of strength

Not shown in this photo is the glue and screws which lock it all together. I used polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue) and screws. The holes will be plugged.The whole thing is massive. Hopefully it won’t overpower the room. I’d estimate it weighs 80 or 90 pounds, and that’s just one end of the bed.

I cut a 3/4″ dado to support the slats. This picture also shows how the rails will join together.

Boyce Bed Part Two

Greg — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:16:49 +0000

I spent a few minutes scraping off the bark to reveal the earthy texture underneath. This beetle kill wood has lots of character.

Next I had to select which side of the posts to put facing the room. I chose the gnarliest one to be the corner post that will be closest to the middle of the room. It has a couple of feet of exposed bark surface and I think it will really set off the gray from the wood all around it. This is really going to have the rustic look.

Next I cut the posts to length. They bed will be 86 inches tall.

This is harder than it looks because these posts weigh about 40 pounds each.

Next I lined them up and cut notches in them for the bed frames and some 2 x 4 supports that will make the frame more rigid and keep our pillows from falling off onto the floor.

I did this with a straight edge, my hypoid saw and a whole lot of cuts. It took longer than I thought because of all the chisel work that had to be done.

The notches are 3/4″ deep and will make these joints very strong. It was quite tedious and I’m sure glad that part is done.

We’ll call it a Boyce Bed

Greg — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:39:59 +0000

Everyone knows what a Murphy Bed is, though I don’t know the story behind it. But since we designed this, we might as well call it a Boyce Bed.

My sister Barb and I were talking about log beds for our family cabin and couldn’t come up with one we liked. We noodled some ideas and I came up with this

Boyce Bed

It will consist of two 2×6 box frames, one for a single mattress and one for a double. Those will be made out of beetle kill pine. Those boxes will be supported by 6 inch logs with inch and a half deep notches taken out of them. That will allow the logs to sit outside the dimensions of the boxes and give us room to slide another mattress underneath. This is a cabin after all, you can never have too much bed space.

The drawing has no ladder, but I could either build a stand alone ladder and lean it against the wall, or integrate some rungs up the side on one end using 2 or 3 inch logs.

Could we patent this?

Done and delivered

Greg — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:34:30 +0000

I installed the table today. I think it came out great. I ended up waxing it over the poly. Tried light brown Briwax, but while it looked good on the blonde wood, it covered up the grain too much on the blue/gray areas. So I used good old fashioned Minwax finishing wax instead.

Above is the normal configuration. Eight feet long, 30 inches wide. It should seat up to 8 on the sides.

And pull out the slide supports and add leaves on each end and we can seat two more. The dowel pins are stored in the sliders. Pretty cool.

Table part nine

Greg — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:32:26 +0000

This is it. I think I’ve spend 40 to 50 hours on this. Much of that has been in the finishing process. The wood really soaks up the varnish. So do you want to see it?

Maybe you want to wait and see it in person?

Actually I have a little more work to do. A fine sanding, one more coat of polyurethane and probably a coat of BriWax. But for photo purposes I don’t think it will look any different.

Right now it has seven coats of poly, following by some glaze in vandyke brown. I used that to highlight the nicks and saw marks I left on the piece. I wanted it to look old and didn’t want anyone to fret when something gets dropped on it. It will dent. It is pine, after all.

So here’s a wide shot of the table top.

And here’s a tighter shot where you can see some of the highlighted saw marks. Those are from the saw mill up in Westcliffe. I put an assortment of marks on it as well, using chisels, a razor blade knife a hammer and even a little flame.

I’ll try to deliver it to Creekside in a couple of weeks. Hope you guys like it.

Table part eight

Greg — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:03:15 +0000

Construction is finished! Here are the last few steps before I move on to sealing, staining and finish coat.

Plugs will keep act as slider stops

To keep the sliders (which will support the end leaves) from coming out too far I had to devise a stop system. I cut four 5/8″ plugs.

Dowels will keep the leaves from sliding around

Once drilled in the right spot it was a simple matter to glue them in.

Plugs stop sliders from coming out too far

With the table upside down, you can see how it works.

Extensions will hold end leaves in place

Now it’s on to experimenting with the finish. And of course the distressing, so this table will look old. One more entry and I’ll be done.

Table part seven

Greg — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 14:32:14 +0000

Not as much to show at this stage of the construction. The few hours I spent this weekend were used plugging the screw holes and sanding, sanding, sanding.

With this cutter scrap turns into plugs in no time

I made the plugs out of a piece of scrap beetle kill pine and the Shopsmith in horizontal boring mode. It took about two minutes. It’s wonderful to have the right tools for a job.

Then it’s simply a matter of popping the plugs out with a screwdriver and tapping them into the holes using a tiny bit of glue.

With a little sanding the holes disappear

Here’s the tool that made is possible. A set of tenon and plug cutters. My set uses a half inch shaft. It has three sizes. Everyone should have a set of these!

Tenon/plug cutter set

Then I filled some knot holes that had cracks in them and got lunch. Then it was time for sanding. I sanded for a couple of hours, sometimes with a vibrating sander, but often with a block of wood with a piece of sandpaper attached. I also used a cabinet scraper.

I might be sore tomorrow.

Table part six

Greg — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 01:44:11 +0000

The construction part of this project is wrapping up, though the distressing and finishing is still ahead.

This week I put the bread-board ends on. These pieces are to keep the long planks from warping. I used three and a half inch screws with an over sized hole in the end pieces and no glue so there can be some expansion and contraction of the planks without pulling the whole thing apart.

Top not yet attached, but this is how it will look

I’ll make some plugs to fill those holes in the end pieces.

Bread board ends should keep the pieces from warping

You’ll recall I cut some notches in the skirt to hold some inch and a quarter square posts.

The idea is for the posts to lay in those slots and slide in and out to support a leaf on each end.

Today I set the whole thing up to make sure it all fits. And I’m happy to say it does. Here’s how the slide-out leaf supports work.

Note the pull-out supports for the leaf

I made the leaf pieces out of scrap. They’ll sit on top of the supports.

Table with installed end leaf

This will give us the ability to seat two extra people, one on each end of the table.

Table part five

Greg — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:05:36 +0000

It’s assembly time. First I glued and nailed the skirt pieces into the slots I had cut into the outside top corners of the legs.

Attaching the skirt to the legs

I put a piece inside and outside each leg to give it more strength.

Ready for the center supports

Then I flipped it over and installed three 2×4 cross pieces to make it more rigid and to support the planks.

This is one solid table

Next I used biscuits and Gorilla glue and clamped the planks together.

All clamped up

Almost done with construction. Bread board ends are next.

Table part four

Greg — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:18:29 +0000

This the part that’s more complicated than a farmer probably would have tackled 150 years ago. I’m making leaves for our table that will mount on the ends when we need them. More on how later. I used scraps to put together two leaves about 12 inches deep (they’ll also have baker’ ends so they’ll be 30 inches wide). What you see here is both of them clamped together until the glue sets.

Leaves

Here’s one glued up. Note the gray grain of the beetle fungus on the top, with the golden heart wood on the bottom. This is the essence of the beetle kill pine look.

Note: This will be the underside of the table

Cutting a slot in one side of the skirt allows me to install table top clips to hold the top on.

Slotted skirt piece for table top clips

All four pieces of the skirt have a slot in them. This will be installed under the table top where it won’t be seen. This arrangement allows the top to expand and contract without tearing itself apart.

I love this planer

Made a lot of shavings today. So far about 60 gallons!