(upbeat music) nicole - well last time we did a bed on this show things got a little bit weird. (screaming) now don't worry, i promise to keep
woodworking joints pdf, my clothes on for this entire video. now of course we have plans available in both sketchup and pdf, and the dimensions we provideare for a king-size bed
to fit this internal space. if you have somethingdifferent the good thing is mattresses are standardsizes so look up the size and subtract accordinglyto bring the dimensions in to suit your needs. keep in mind, though,thickness could be an issue. mattresses are different thicknesses, the amount of bedding you use could make it a little bit taller,
so you may want to adjustthe height of your legs to make sure this rail islocated in the right place. you don't want yourpillows and the bed itself sliding under the rail, and you don't want itto high because it could get in the way of your design here. now, let's talk about tools. well, if you're new to the wood whisperer, hi, my name is markand i kinda like tools.
i kinda like expensivetools sometimes, too. i've got two examples of that right here, i've got the festool domino, a very quick way to makemortise and tenon joints, and the multi-router,okay, this is made by jds, it's a really cool system, it costs about $2,600bucks for the basic package so it's really expensivebut it is a great tool, and as someone who doesthis stuff for a living,
it's something i can justify having. now, i do get some requests from people who want to see this tool in action. so, that's what we're gonna do today! you're gonna see both of these tools. if you want more accessible methods to make mortise and tenon joints, i've got an archive ofa couple hundred videos showing more accessibletooling and methods
that will allow you to get the job done. hey guys, come here! now if you like the ideaof the multi-router, there is a cheaper option out there, just look up the pantorouter and you could find plans to build your own, or you could actuallybuy a preassembled kit, just look at the hybrid pantorouter, should get you what you need.
alright, let's get to it. we'll get this party started with some nice eight quarter cherry stock. and the first order ofbusiness is the legs. i'm using boards that are wide enough to produce both leg halves side-by-side for the best grain and color match. i cut the boards to rough length, and then split the boards down the middle.
each board is then milled flat and square. since the legs will be3 1/4 inches square, i trim the boards to 3 1/2 inches, giving me plenty of room for cleanup after the halves are glued together. things will go faster ifyou glue two legs at a time. a nice even bead ofsqueeze-out lets me know that i have adequate glue coverage. now i'll let those dry overnight.
the legs can now be milledto 3 1/4 inches square and cut to final length at the chop saw. each leg receives threefairly large mortises. since we're doing loose tenon joinery here the rails also need the same mortises, so we'll put the legs aside and start prepping the rail stock. the rails range in size fromsix inches to two inches wide. i cut them to rough length with a jigsaw,
and rough width and the band saw. because these pieces are so long i'm starting with eight quarter stock and milling them downto an inch and a half. having so much extra stock helps ensure that the final railsare nice and straight. now let's play with the multi-router. the platform slidessmoothly in two dimensions while the router bit remains stationary,
a deceptively simple design. after laying out my mortisesall i need to do is line up the center line with the centerline on the multi-router, clamp the work to the table,set my stops, and route away. as you can see this isvery difficult to film, so let's skip to the end product. with these settings lockedin i'll make the same mortise where appropriate in the other legs. then all i need to do is lineup the center line, and go.
to make the adjoiningmortise on the rail piece i could reset the verticalposition of the router, or i could simply mill up a piece of scrap that will raise the heightof the rails on the platform. with the scrap piece in placei can line everything up while also using a rollerstand for extra support. to bad you can't seewhat's happening there, because it's really cool. and just like that, we havetwo perfectly matched mortises.
the rest of the mortisesare cut the same way, adjusting the stops as needed. this is pretty much asclose as you can get to repeatable mortise perfection. so what about the tenons? those will be cut fromsome cherry cut-offs. the great thing about this method is that the board is milled to perfect thickness, making all of our tenons
the perfect thickness in just one shot. and with perfectly consistent mortises, we know that these tenonswill fit like a glove. because the mortises have rounded edges we use a rounder bit to round the edges of the tenon stock. notice i'm doing this routing before i cut the tenons to final length. and check out this fit.
hard to get any better than that. to make life easier later, i glue the tenon stock intothe rails ahead of time. just be sure to remove the squeeze-out once the glue firms up. now let's work on the vertical partitions. these are cut to 3/4 ofan inch in thickness, and some of them will receivegrooves for the panels, which are easily cut at the table saw
using a feather board for support. to keep the grooves centeredi run the piece through twice, flipping it around after the first pass. the pieces are then cutto the appropriate length using a stop block on the cross-cut sled. the smaller top partitionpieces are cut here too, using a pencil to keep the piece secure, a trick i learned from theone and only david marks. now with my rails linedup and clamped together,
i'll mark center lineswherever a partition exists, giving me a nice reference point that i can use for my domino joinery. now i just line up thetool with the center line and we're off to the races. the adjoining mortises andthe vertical partitions are cut using the trim stop attachment. this keeps the small workpiece safely in position while the mortises are cut.
i find it easiest to do this operation with the tool upside-down, and for the smallest pieces, a clamp really helps tohold everything securely. just like i did withthe larger rail tenons, i'll glue the dominos in ahead of time. now let's do a quick dry assembly. (hammering) the partitions with groovesgive us some vital information
about the stock grooves thatwe need to cut in our rails. so i use a fine pencil tomark the groove locations. since the pencil can't really reach all the way into that groove, i draw the full half-inch depth after disassembling the parts. i'll use a quarter inchspiral bit in the router and an edge guide to make our grooves. i also attach a piece ofscrap to act as a second fence
that should help mebetter balance the router. it's slow work but if you push that bit too hard it's gonna break. as you can see, the grooves all stop beforehitting the mortises. now let's talk about the bed hardware. i'm using a simple hook system that will lock the side rails into the legs. a mortise is cut into the legs first,
and then into the endgrain of the side rails. after squaring the corners with a chisel, i notice that some of thehardware is a bit tight. upon further inspectionit's pretty obvious that the pieces are notall the same length. a few passes at the grinderand the pieces fit perfectly. the female side of the hardware requires two deeper mortisesfor the attachment hooks. those are easily made with a smaller bit
at the multi-router. now we'll cut a single taperinto the headboard legs, and two tapers into the footboard legs. the final smoothing of thetaper is done at the workbench. the legs get one morefinal detail at the top, a slight curve up towardthe inside of the bed. the top rails of ourheadboard and footboard receive a gentle curve. using a long piece of scrap we'll draw
the curve directly onto the work piece. at each end of the rail iclamp a small piece of scrap at a slight angle and position it so that the bending strip isflush with the corner. now all i have to do isbring the bending strip up into the work piece, and pull it back a halfinch at the center point. the curve is marked with a pencil and then cut at the band saw.
the final finessing is doneusing a flexible sanding strip. putting pencil marks on asurface is really handy, as it lets me gauge my progress. both top rails have the same curve, so feel free to use your first one as a template for the second. the final things we needto make are the panels. i'll be using some rustic-looking walnut for a striking visual impact.
the boards are re-sawn down the middle, allowing me to create alike book-matched panel. one of the larger panels hasa pretty significant knot, which i'll fill up with some epoxy containing a dark brown dye. blue tape on the back end will prevent that epoxy from seeping out. once the epoxy is dryi sand most of it away and then head to the drumsander to bring the boards
down to their final thickness. check out that cool book-matched grain. by the way, when gluing uppanels with parallel clamps, i recommend alternating clamps up and down to help promote even pressure, and ultimately panel flatness. the final length and width of our panels is measured directlyfrom the dry assembled headboard and footboard.
while my big panels are a bittoo wide for the chop saw, i can still get the job done by flipping the partially cut piece over and carefully lining upthe blade for a second cut. works like a charm. a quick test-fit andwe're ready to move on. everything now receivesand eighth-inch round over to soften the look and the feel. the small verticalpartitions should have been
rounded over beforecutting them to length, but i didn't think that far ahead. so i turn my small routerinto a mini router table by clamping it upside-down in my leg vice. all parts and pieces arethen sanded up to 320 grit and it's time to apply the finish. i'll start with a coat of dewaxed shellac, specifically bulls eye seal coat. this first coat should helpprevent excessive blanching,
which often happens with cherry. even with this little bitof shellac on the surface, the cherry immediately transforms into a rich, warm color. you might be wondering why i'm finishing before the final assembly. put simply, because it makes sense. some projects lend themselves better to pre-finishing than others,
but in the case of this bedit's gonna save us tons of time, and it'll give us betterresults in the end. i just need to take care not to get finish on any of the joints, which is pretty easy to do. now for the real fun. check out this wacky walnut. that's the good stuff right there. after a few hours ilightly sand the surface
with 320-grit paper toremove any roughness. a light touch is really all that's needed. now keep in mind, if your sandpaper pillsup like you see here, give the finish more time to cure. we're looking to make dust, like you see in the example on the left. the top coat i'm using issatin minwax wipe-on poly. i'll apply it with a cotton rag
using smooth strokes and a light touch. as i move along, each passoverlaps the previous. while you do have time to go back and fix any mistakes that you see, you'll wanna work quickly andavoid overworking the surface. the partitions, legs, and rails are given the same finish treatment. notice how i have these boards set up? supported by the tenons i'm able to coat
all four sides of therails quickly and easily. from here, it's a rinseand repeat sort of thing. the next day i'lllightly sand the surface, only this time i'lluse 500-grit sandpaper. using a brush attachment i vacuum the dust off the surface and prep for the second and final coat of poly. i'm going for a fairlylight duty finish here, but if you need more protection,
simply apply more coats of poly. after the finish dries wecan start the assembly. i'm using west systems epoxyfor the added work time. these glue-ups are going to be tricky, and i can't risk the glue drying before the assembly is complete. the epoxy consists of a resin, a hardener, and i'm also adding afiller to make the mixture thicker and stronger.
with glue in the mortisesand on the tenons, i start by assemblingthe top of the footboard and work my way down. to help keep things alignedwhile the glue dries, i insert the rail tenonspartially into the legs. using cloth and caulsto protect the finish, i add a few clamps where needed. and once the epoxy is dryi can glue up the legs. these should go on fairly quickly,
so i'm just using regularpva glue for this job. now for the big clamps. these are over 80 inches long, and if you need somethingsimilar consider making your own pipe clamps for a more economical option, or simply link twoshorter clamps together. the headboard is gluedup the same exact way, only this time i was ableto move a little bit faster and i did the entire glue up in one shot.
to finish up i install the hardware into the legs and the side rails and try to assemble this thing myself. well at this point you'reprobably wondering, where's the support system? well my bed is actually pretty unique. it's on its own stand, we don't need one, so i didn't build it. but, i put it in the planif you wanna see an example
of a simple support systemthat you could build with strips on the rails, horizontal pieces running this way, and then some support in the center. pretty straightforwardand it should accomodate just about any boxspringmattress combination. alright, so again, download those plans at thewoodwhisperer.com. i hope you liked thisbuild, it was a lot of fun.
this was one of those personal projects that my wife's been bugging me to do for a very long time soit's always nice to get those honey-do thingsscratched off the list. alright, thanks for watching everybody, i hope you liked the video, subscribe, we'll catch you next time. (guitar music)