The Shakers are famous for their woodworking skills and the furniture they made. There's nothing quite like the clean, elegant lines of the Shaker furniture. This eHow features plans for a full-sized bed. You can alter the plans to make it fit whatever mattress size you like.
Instructions
The Headboard and the Footboard
1. Mill the pieces for the headboard and the footboard into planks.
2. Glue the pieces together if you are using multiple planks instead of one. Make the dimensions of the plank you created by gluing larger than it needs to be when building a Shaker style bed.
3. Cut the headboard and footboard to the dimensions you need. Be careful to make the everything parallel and square.
Creating the Tenons
4. Cut the plank for the headboard and the footboard using a tenoning jig so you make shoulders on both sides of the planks. Make two tenons per side on the head and foot boards.
5. Plan which part of the tenon that will remain and which part you will turn into ? of an inch haunches.
6. Use a band saw to remove any excess and pare away the wood, creating the haunches so the tenons are left.
Creating the Curves in the Headboards and Footboards
7. Draw a curve on the top of the headboard and footboard. This curve can be elliptical or just a simple curve. This you can decide when making a Shaker style bed.
8. Use a band saw to cut the curve. Make sure you cut just beyond the line, leaving an allowance.
9. Smooth the edge using sandpaper or even a planer.
Cutting the Joinery for the Legs
10. Cut the wood to the dimensions specified in the materials list.
11. Plot the mortises for the footboard, the headboard, and the side rails of the Shaker style bed. Remember to keep the legs symmetrical and not identical.
12. Mark where the sections remain square at the top and the bottom of the legs.
13. Create the mortises for the side rails 9/32 inches deep with a plunge router in conjunction with a mortising block. Cut the mortises for the headboard and footboard 9/32 inches deep, then cut them to the needed depth of 1 5/8 inches.
14. Drill counterbores that are ? inches in diameter and 3/8 of an inch deep. These will be for the bed bolts on the legs' outside. Cut 5/16 inch holes in the center of the ounterbores for 5 ? inch hex bolts that you will use to fasten the legs. Try drilling from both sides of the leg to make sure you get the hole exactly straight.
Turn the Legs
15. Draw patterns for the legs on ? inch thick, 2 ? inch wide plywood pieces, making sure you draw the curves that are on the top and the bottom of the legs.Make surer you include the points where you will be varying the depth of the cuts while the leg is on the lathe, as well as variances in the pattern.
16. Set the piece of wood for each leg on your lathe.
17.Position the tool rest so you can cut the bottom of the leg first. Turn it by hand to make sure the tool rest will not impede the leg from turning.
18. Use a roughing gouge to cut the top and bottom of the leg into cylinders. Make sure you stay ? inches away from the square sections of the leg. Clean up the section between the square and cylindrical sections with the gouge. The bevel should stay against the leg as it spins.
19. Transfer the marks you made on the pattern to the leg, and cut notches into the leg as it spins with a parting tool.
20. Keep track of the amount you cut away with your calipers. Try also to keep the curves even and as close to what you marked on the pattern as possible. Mark transitions with a chisel.
21. Sand the leg with coarse grit sandpaper first as it's spinning, then work your way to the smoother grits. Be careful not to sand out any of the detail on the legs you created.
22. Grab a handful of shavings and use it to burnish the leg as it spins. Take off the waste at the top with a saw, and use sandpaper to give it is final shape. Keep the faces of the square sections flat with a plane.
Assemble the Headboard and the Footboard
23. Use a shoulder plane to trim the tenons of the headboard so you get a snug fit.
24. Glue the headboard and footboard, making sure you put glue into the deep mortises, but not the haunches.
25. Shorten the tenons if necessary.
The Side Rails and Slats
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Mill the boards that are 3 inches wide until they're flat and smooth.
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Crosscut the boards so they're 77 ? inches long.
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Use a hand plane to smooth the rails' top edges.
Add Ogee Blocks
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Make four ogee blocks that are 5 inches long for the headboard, and 3 inches for the footboard. Try to match them with the color ad grain of the rail.
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Match the grain on the end of the ogee with the rail.
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Joint the bottom edge, making it smooth and straight.
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Create the blocks for the headboard of the Shaker style bed 12 ? inches long and the footboard blocks 10 ? inches long. Cut another for the tenon that is ? inches long.
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Plot the design for the ogee, and use a band saw to cut it to shape. Smooth the edges by using spokeshaves, as well as scrapers and sand paper.
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Line the blocks with the rails' ends, and glue them into place. Let the glue dry.
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Cut the rails to their finished length of 76 ? inches.
The Stub Tenons
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Create a stub tenon shoulder using a router.
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Form the top shoulder by cutting away some of the tenon.
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Use a chisel to make the tenon as flush as you can make it with the shoudler's surface.
Holes for the Bed Bolts and Nuts
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Mark 2 ? inches from the bottom of the rail for the holes of the bolts.
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Use a 3/8th inch drill bit to drill from the rail's end. A doweling jig can help make your hole more accurate.
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Extend the hole if needed, but do so by hand.
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Make a recess for the nut. Do tis with a drill or a router first, then with a chisel. It should be centered on the bolt hole with 3 ? inches from the rail's shoulder.
Cleats for the Rails
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Try to choose wood that matches the grain and color of the rails.
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Cut the cleats to they're length matches that of the tenons in the side rails.
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Sand the outside edges until they're smooth.
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Drill pilot holes for the #6 by 1 5/8 inch screws that you will use to attach the cleat to the side rails. Do this from the bottom, 5/8 of an inch from the edge, and space them every f4 inches when you make a Shaker style bed.
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Add more holes to the cleat's top face for dowel pins that will hold the slats. Make the holes 5/16th inches in diameter and ? inches deep. Space them every five inches and make sure they're 5/8th of an inch from the cleat's inside edge. Start drilling them 2 ? inches from either end.
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Put some wood glue into the holes, and insert a 5/16th of an inch by 1 ? inch dowel. Make a mark that's 1/16 inches from the cleat's outside edge to mark where you'll glue the rail.
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Use glue on the side rail's bottom, making sure it doesn't extend beyond the outside edge. Put the rail on the cleat, lining it up the mark you made, and make sure it's flush on the ends. Clamp it.
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Insert the screws, being careful that the rails and the cleats don't shift.
Bolt Hole Covers
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Cut bolt hole covers to size, using ? inch wood. You can make them ovals or rectangles that are 1 2/6 inch by 1 11/16.
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Sand the edges until they're smooth, then chamfer the edges with sandpaper or a plane.
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Make small, 9/64 of an inch holes in the tops of the bolt hole covers. Make 5/64 inch pilot holes in the legs, drilling them 3/8 of an inch above the hole that you counterbored.
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Use #6 by ? brass screws with round heads to secure the bolt hole covers for the Shaker style bed.
Bed Slats
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Use maple when you make the slats for the bed. Cut them to ? inch and 4 inch wide.
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Put the bed together to make sure you get the exact length they should be.
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Add notches to the ends with a router on the band saw.
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Set the slats in place over the dowel pins, then lay down your mattress.
Tags: inches long, Shaker style, that inches, inches from, side rails, that will