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Working on a plan for a Queen Size frame and panel bed. Can anyone provide guideance on the following: I’ve looked in some FW bed articles and Taunton’s ‘Beds’ book, but have not been able to find any rules of thumb.
What’s the minimum feasible width (in terms of strength) for the head and footboard rails (the rails that run the width of the bed)? Is 3.5 inches enough. The front of the bead has the 2 rails framing the panel plus a third rail below. The foot of the bead just has the 2 rails framing the panel.
What is the minimum feasible width for the bedrails (the ones connecting the head to the foot)?
I’m assuming that I need to use stock that’s milled to greater than 1 inch thick, not 3/4 stock, for the rails.
I posted this on the main board a few days ago but did not get any answers. Apologies if you had to read it twice
Thanks
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It's hard to say exactly, a lot of it depends on species, cut, etc. Generally speaking, if you are nervous about the width, go thicker. 3 1/2" wide rails might not work if 3/4" thick, but at 1 1/4" thick would probably be fine. For the rail between the head & foot, I would use something at least 1" thick, and 6" wide. 1 1/8" x 7 would be better. You can always stiffen this one up by running a cleat along the inside to hold up the box spring.
Bob Lang
http://www.craftsmanplans.com
*Here is a sketchhttp://www.sba.muohio.edu/gattiktf/bed_sketch.gif
*The best bed rail design I've found is to use a tee (T), with both parts of the slat about 2.5". I simply plane both parts, glue, clamp, and shoot a few brads along the length. I also snip the bottom half ends at 60 degrees or so in order to clear the cleat as well as to clean up the appearence.
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