I’m in the process of building Kevin Rodels arts and crafts bed, FWW 260, and am at the point of gluing up the head and foot boards. On reviewing the video of the glue up, he does it all in one go but doesn’t check for square, which for me sems too much hoping and praying. If it needs clamping cross corner to square it, it seems it would cause the slats to rack or introduce a twist. Has anyone else built this or a similar bed? how did you deal with it? I’m thinking I should glue the slats into the bottom rail, then add the top one when it has set up.
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
I'm not familiar with that specific Arts & Crafts bed offhand, but I've built a number of A&C pieces with multiple slats having mortise and tenon joinery, including a bed. I assume they are all similar to the bed you are building.
1. I would use liquid hide glue to give yourself more open time to assemble everything. It also seems to lubricate the joinery so that the pieces go together easily. I've been using it more and more (Titebond brand) and have yet to have any issues with it. It also cleans up much better than PVA and any missed spots blend in better with stain/finish, especially with a darker color.
2. I would assemble it and then check diagonals to ensure squareness. I would also use winding sticks, or weigh it down to a flat surface, if that's a concern. I think squareness is critical, and if the joinery is decent, the slat shouldn't rack.
3. I would NOT glue up the bottom rail and hope that after the glue is dry, the tenons will fit into the mortises on the top rail.
4. Don't forget to do a dry run, especially with all those M&T joints on the slats. If just one of them isn't right, the whole assembly will suffer greatly.
I have built the same bed.. I used liquid hide glue(old brown glue) because of the 20 minute open time. I did pre-glue the slates into the rails, both top and bottom at the same time because of the open time of the glue. I also assembled (w/ clamps) the rails into the legs with out glue (even the bottom rail in the head board) to make sure everything would come together when gluing the legs at a later step and to make sure things were square etc... I also only glued the wide center slates in the middle 2-3" to allow for wood movement
When gluing up the head board or foot board.. I glued them up on T-beams (see photo). I made them from milled 2x4s glued together then jointed the bottom face and then ran them through the planer too make sure the flat and bottom/top were parallel. It is easier to get 2 lines in plane then it is trying to get clamps in the same plane. plus i am not a fan resting parts against the bars of clamps when clamping.. when gluing the legs I had to use clamps from top and bottom (legs may twist with uneven clamping pressure) and the t beams help providing room for the clamps... If your worried about squeeze out cover the t-beam with packing tape were need. The photo also shows the foot board on top of the head board that is being clamped up, this was due to limited shop space...