Replies

1. 
   pzaxtl | Mar 02, 2007 10:25am | #1

   How about balsa?

2. 
   pzaxtl | Mar 02, 2007 10:54am | #2

   Sorry, I couldn't resist!  Maple would be a good choice, as would birch.  Frankly, if cherry is the look you want, then I would make it from that.  Your best bet is to research finishing materials and methods then choose one that you like that matches your comfort and experience level.  Dyeing is a good option but you must decide what type of dye you will use (water, alcohol, or solvent based) because that will dictate (to some degree) what you use for a top coat.

   If you don't have a jointer and planer, I doubt you'll be able to build it for $200-$300 since dressed lumber is more expensive and, depending on where you are buying it, isn't usually as four square as you would like.  Also, in addition to the plans, you will need to purchase two separate hardware kits that will run you about $80.  Woodworking is fun, but it is, and continues to be, the most expensive hobby I've ever had (in both time and money).  I don't want to discourage you, but one can often buy it for cheaper than one can make it -- of course, it probably wont be as nice or as sturdy, and it wasn't made by you!  You may be able to buy rough lumber from a local supplier that would be willing to joint and plane it to your specifications for a fee, or a local cabinet shop might be willing to do that as well.

1. 
   ETG | Mar 02, 2007 04:12pm | #3

   While I had made some items as a teenager, my first real furniture project was a crib close to 40 years ago.  My design was a traditional Shaker style with rocker legs.  And I used cherry - was still expensive even then.

   I bought my first router - a Stanley and made rabbet/dado corner joints.  The only other power tools I had was a drill, oribital sander and a saber saw.  I bought the cherry s2s (face surfaced on 2 sides - edges not surfaced) so I had to hand join the boards for glue ups.  All this was long before FWW appeared on the scene and the in-depth discussions about wood finishing and blotching on cherry.

   I used a Minwax cherry stain at the time (would keep it natural now and let nature take care of the coloring) over a "wash coat" of cut shellac and two coats of oil varnish.  The cradle has done well - it is now being used for grandchildren.

   While you obviously have a time limit, do take the time to plan, think out your project and consider using a good hardwood - birch, maple, cherry - and make it a piece that will be a family item.  Good luck and please enjoy the project!

3. 
   frenchy | Mar 02, 2007 05:08pm | #4

   Meilcowski,

      Build it using an inexpensive wood like pine.. couple of real reasons for that.. first you need to start en education for for your child.. learn to sacrafice and start by using cheap woods.  You can stain or dye it whatever color is wanted and in a very short time the child will need it's own bed..

        Frankly if you want to give your child something to be remembered, build a worthy piece.. a hutch or bookcase. A crib that is built from a set of someones plans will have no real sentimental value and unlikely to be passed from generation to generation. If you wanted to build a legacy crib you should have started years ago buying the needed tools and equipment. It's not too late to pass on a legacy.. but don't start with something with such a short building cycle.. Remember your wife will need you for all sorts of things from now on.. from lemaz classes to painting the room and all the other tasks a nesting  woman has..

    Be there for your wife and it will mean more than a crib you made..

1. 
   pzaxtl | Mar 02, 2007 07:55pm | #6

   Good points!

2. 
   zoidberg | Mar 02, 2007 09:13pm | #9

   Frenchy,

   I would have to disagree that just because it was built from plans it is not hierloom-worthy. I built my daughter's crib from a purchased plans, and I doubt she will every know if I designed it or not. The thing that makes it have sentimental value is that it was my first project, I built it for my daughter with my own hands, and it is sturdy and beautiful. My wife cried the first time she saw it finished and said that she hopes it is used for my daughter's children and thier children etc.

   Just my $0.02.

     - Marc

1. 
   frenchy | Mar 03, 2007 12:35am | #11

   zoidberg,

     I understand where you are coming from but must respectfully disagree with you..

    There are of course exceptions where a crib can be used for the brief time it's required, and then  be stored away someplace and come out again if another child is on the way or grandchildren appear..

   The reality is that few of us have such space available.

        Heirloom quality stuff is seldom created with our first attempts and even sentiment must give way to the practical space limitations we all live with. 

    It's not that heirloom quaility stuff can't be created, simply that given the basic nature of tools as was described and his level of experiance,  chances are exceedingly slim that in the few months untill it's needed with the time a new father-to-be has there is little chance indeed that a heirloom quailty piece will happen..    His time might better be spent in other ways..

    I understand the desire to create something for his child.. However As others have said, you can borrow or buy used a inexpensive crib that will work just fine.. the money saved could then start a college fund.  Then without the looming deadline work to improve his skill and tools to the point where a truely worthy heirloom quality piece can be created. 

1. 
   zoidberg | Mar 05, 2007 07:38pm | #20

   Hi Frenchy,

   I guess this is just one of those situations that we agree to disagree :-)

   I think it really depends on our definitions of hierloom and probably the family dynamics involved.

   Regarding the space issue, the crib unbolts into the 4 sides plus a mattressed spring frame, so it would take up very little space to store. I have issues with the poor workmanship of the mass market cribs, and plus it was an excuse to buy tools, so it was a win-win situation for me. Regards,

     - Marc

1. 
   frenchy | Mar 05, 2007 09:54pm | #23

   Zoidberg,

      My wifes father made a high chair for his kids.. (big Family)   nothing great but a solid piece and it certainly reflected all the care he could afford to put into it at the time.. That highchair feed his whole family and once that job was done he tried hard to find it a new home.. Out of pity my wife took it and we stored that darn thing thru a lot.  My wife didn't want to use it for her girls, I tried to paint it nice and make it into something that she would like..

     But our girls ate off manufactured high chairs given away when they grew up..

     Now my youngest has had her baby and I once again offered to refinish it and fix it even better.  Nothing wrong with it except age and well it wasn't very elegant..

       I tried like the devil to get my youngest daughter to take it but in the end I wound up bustin' it up and puttin' it in the trash..

     Heirlooms have to have value to be saved.. My fathers school papers had a lot of sentimental value to me but I understand that when I die that old trunk will be tossed away like so much trash..  While the cookoo clock He bought in Germany  after the end of WW2 will remain something saved and of value to future generations..

     MY point is that sentimental value and heirloom quaility are not the same thing..

    I think that people can and do make heirloom quaility stuff all the time.   They put their heart and soul into it and spend many times what it would take to buy the same thing..  But it's the quality of the work demands to be saved, not the sentimental value. A newbie with few tools and  the deadline of a child on the way simply cannot do that quaility of work,  not without ignoring his prime responsibility to his wife and her needs..

     If we had limitless amounts of space and remained rooted in  the same location for generations there certainly would be an exception to that..

     That's not the case. the average family moves every 5 years and fewer and fewer homes have attics and other storage spaces to put stuff away untill the next generation needs it..

     Given a choice of putting funds away for a college education or building a crib a responsible parent needs to consider that $400 dollars saved now will amount to at least the required books when that child grows up and goes off to college..

      Even without college that child could use a few thousand dollars towards getting a fresh start in his new place much more than a crib that will require being stored  someplace in his first apartment.   

    

         

    

2. 
   frenchy | Mar 05, 2007 09:57pm | #24

   zoidberg,

      The absolute safest finish to put on anything children will be exposed to is Shellac.

     It's what drug companies coat pills with and candy companies coat candy with..

     Given that I wouldn't expose any child of mine to something that the food and drug administration hasn't tested to death and passed constant approval on..

       

3. 
   jeanlou | Mar 05, 2007 10:22pm | #25

   Sorry Frenchy, but I need to disagree. "The absolute safest" finish is food safe bread board oil or pure mineral oil. You may not like the final look, but we are talking safety, and not appearance,  right?  JL

4. 
   frenchy | Mar 06, 2007 01:52am | #26

   jeanlou,

     I don't know, The FDA approves the use of shellac in drugs, candy, and many other applications.  I have never heard the FDA doing that to oils in uncontrolled environments.. Maybe,  But I absolutely know that shellac is 100% safe.. can you say the same about all mineral oil? 

5. 
   jeanlou | Mar 06, 2007 03:11am | #28

   Frenchy

   The next time you are feeling a little "bloated" and your evacuation system is stopped up, a bit of mineral oil will flush you right out. No health risks associated with the ingestion, and you will feel lighter for the trouble.  :-) 

   This time I do not intend to go the route of proving anything to anyone. All kinds of people jumped on me in another thread for saying something about red oak and ship building, and when I posted some "proof", no one came back to continue the conversation. So you can think what you want and I do not have to prove anything.

   I agree that shellac is a safe finish - I never argued differently...and so is breadboard finish and mineral oil.  JL

   Edited 3/5/2007 7:22 pm ET by jeanlou

6. 
   frenchy | Mar 06, 2007 04:16pm | #30

   jeanlou,

    I thought you made your arguement well about red oak and ship building..   I disagree with the source of your author but hey, I don't really know how to find stuff yet on the web to disprove the author so I kept my mouth shut..

    As to mineral oil and shellac I really don't feel a need to argue the point further.. you were certainly valid with regard to mineral oil and didn't argue about shellac so we're both in agreement.. I personally won't feel bad if you finish a crib with mineral oil and I doubt you'd get upset if I finished one in shellac..

     Just please don't feel that I ignore you.. I have fun with our "debates" and look forward to sharing things with you..

7. 
   jeanlou | Mar 06, 2007 06:36pm | #31

   Frenchy,

   Don't suck too much on the mineral oil. It will flush the system.  :-)  See you in the next fray.   JL

8. 
   Joe Sullivan | Mar 06, 2007 01:55am | #27

   I agree with Frenchy. Dry shellac is completely safe. Edible oils may well be just as safe -- I really don't know, but would imagine that is true -- but they don't provide the same level of finish and protection.

9. 
   jeanlou | Mar 06, 2007 03:14am | #29

   Joe

   Finish is another matter. I was just responding to Frenchy telling me how shellac was the safest finish, and I did make allusion to the difference between safety and finish. JL

    

4. 
   withthegrain | Mar 02, 2007 06:38pm | #5

   First of all, congrats on the upcoming new arrival. I usually stay out of these discussions, but I thought I would add my .02. A crib is only used for a short time. You would be much better served to build a baby bed. The baby will outgrow the crib quickly but use the baby bed for the first year or two. If money is tight just borrow a crib for a couple of months and then move on to the bed. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of new grandkids so I speak from that experience.

   Best of luck, Dennis

1. 
   pzaxtl | Mar 02, 2007 07:58pm | #7

   Actually, the plan that he is considering is a convertible crib that becomes a small day bed or a toddler bed simple by "rearranging" the configuration of it.

5. 
   zoidberg | Mar 02, 2007 09:03pm | #8

   Hi,

   I just finished a crib for my first child (daughter) based on the Rockler Mission Crib plans. Plans and book were good enough to get the job done. I made mine out of Cherry with 2 coats of poly. It looks great, and was my first significant woodworking project.

   I have heard that the convertable cribs are not very useful, as by the time the child is big enough to be out of the crib, most people want to have them in a regular bed. That is what I am going to do, build a matching cherry mission style twin bed. HTH,

     - Marc

   Edit: Forgot to mention that I only had a jointer at the time (no planer) and I did all my thickness planing on it! Probably added 50% to the labor and 25% to the waste. All told I spent about $400 for the wood and $100ish for the plans and hardware kit.

    

   I attached a picture, but not sure if it will make it through the proxy server.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 3/2/2007 1:07 pm ET by zoidberg

   
1. 
   terrylee86 | Mar 02, 2007 09:40pm | #10

   Zoid,

   If that is your first project I don't care what anyone tells you. It is beautiful and will be used for your grandchildren when that time comes. I am an an experienced woodworker and I would be proud to tell anyone I built that project. Who cares about plans, ideas will come from future experience. The shakers even copied off of popular designs of their era with variation of their own. Your wife should be proud. Obviously the picture made it through the server. Now your wife will be more receptive to new tool purchases.

   Terry

   Edited 3/2/2007 9:29 pm ET by terrylee86

1. 
   zoidberg | Mar 05, 2007 07:23pm | #19

   Thanks! The fact that the crib came out as well as it did convinced my wife that I could actually be a decent woodworker, and she has authorized lots of new tools :-)

2. 
   Meilcowski | Mar 05, 2007 06:31am | #14

   Sorry that it has taken me a while to post back, I had to out of town on business for a while. but I am back now. Thanks for all for the posts you guys are great here, I love all the help that you guys offer. What a great resource!Zoidberg, Your crib looks incredible. Awesome job on that, especially with it being your first project. How long did it take your to complete? In response to your comment on the convertible cribs, I was thinking that it would also convert to a twin bed in the "final" stage. is that not the normal bed that you would think of when you mentioned out growing the crib? Maybe our child wouldn't use the toddler bed, but I would think they would get lots of use from the twin bed. and when the time comes that we have another, I could buy a regular bed and reuse the crib our second child. Is there something that I am misunderstanding about the plans? Does it not convert to a full size twin bed? To all, As far as my tools go, I have a delta x5 left tilt unisaw, and several Routers, and chop saw, radial arm saw, and a planer. My Sister-in-law works for Porter Cable/Delta/Dewalt/Black & Decker, so I get her discount and I am taking advantage of it. I am pretty light on the hand tools as I don't really know how to use them. I think I can do a pretty good job without the jointer, but maybe not. I was considering buying a jointer, I just wasn't sure about getting it right away. I generally buy the best tool I can find. So I was considering the Delta x5 8" DJ20 Jointer, I just hadn't quite decided to drop that much money on it yet. Would you recommend getting that now and not buying dimensioned lumber? What do you think the price differential would be between the two for the total amount of wood needed for a crib? would it be enough to justify a jointer anyway?I didn't hear anyone mention any problems with Maple, I guess that would be ok, and then dye it to whatever color I want. Then use a non-toxic finish to top coat it. Does the dye have to be non-toxic too, I wonder?One question that I had that was not answered, would there be a significant difference between soft maple and hard maple for this project?Thanks all for the responses, your help and input is greatly appreciated!-MikeEdited 3/4/2007 10:33 pm ET by Meilcowski

   Edited 3/4/2007 10:41 pm ET by Meilcowski

1. 
   zoidberg | Mar 05, 2007 07:21pm | #18

   Meilcowski ,

   Thanks for the feedback. I am really happy it turned out as well as it did. The elapsed time is a little tricky, as I did it on sporadic weekends over about 6 months. I would make a lot of progress one weekend, and then not work on it for a couple weeks. I would guess that I put about 100-150 hours of labor into it. The best thing is that I learned so many tricks and collected better tools over the course of contruction that I think I could build it in half the time (if that) if I did it again!

   It was my understanding that the convertable cribs turn into "toddler" beds, which are smaller than twin beds. I could very well be mistaken about this however. Between that and many people telling me that the convertable makes compromises and thus ends up as not as good a crib as a dedicated one, and not a good a bed for the same reason. I think it stuck in my head that it would be like a pullout couch - not a great couch and not a great bed!

   I considered (hard) maple as well, but picked Cherry because I wanted something a little darker and did not have much confidence that I could do staining and finishing properly to make a light wood dark.

     - Marc

    

6. 
   alanplanesaw | Mar 03, 2007 03:50am | #12

   Attached is a photo of two cradles I made.  One for our daughter's baby(s) and one for our son's baby.  Made of cherry.  Clear finish.  They chose the designs.

   They are assembled with RTA bolts so they come apart for storage or shipping.  Our daughter uses hers (the kids have grown out of it) in the living room for magazines, etc.

   Our son's cradle still has a granddaughter using it.

   Alan - planesaw

   
1. 
   texmark | Mar 05, 2007 07:40am | #15

   I built the cradle in the forefront of the picture you sent. I think I got the plans from Woodsmith. I made mine from Q sawn white oak. Finished it with SutherlanWelles Polymerized tung oil.  Woodsmith says they first sold the plan in 1986 and it is the largest seller they have ever had.  I made this one with floating panels on the ends. Couldn't tell in the picture if the ends of your were or not. Oh mine was for a Great Grandson. 

1. 
   alanplanesaw | Mar 05, 2007 05:19pm | #16

   texmark,

   The basic plan for mine came from a Taunton Press book, but was modified according to my daughter's directions.  The original plan she selected from the book used a basinet (sp?) mattress, where she wanted a crib mattress (larger), she wanted the rounded tops to the end pieces, etc.  The two "feet" were lengthened to accomodate the wider crib.

   I used cherry, no stain, then just a clear finish.  Two grandchildren have used it.

   Alan - planesaw 

    

7. 
   jeanlou | Mar 03, 2007 10:18pm | #13

   Meilcowski

   Whatever plan you finally decide on, make sure that the finish is non-toxic and can be sucked on without danger...likewise the wood should be non-toxic.  JL

1. 
   zoidberg | Mar 05, 2007 07:41pm | #21

   Agreed on the non-toxic finish. The crib plans recommended 2 coats of poly, and that's what I used. The hardware kit also came with clear plastic "teething caps" to keep the baby from chewing on the gate rails. I recommend having these, because the first thing my daughter did when she could pull herself upright was to chew on them!

     - Marc

1. 
   jeanlou | Mar 05, 2007 07:54pm | #22

   Marc

   I think that they discover the world by chewing and sucking on whatever is closest!

   Some finishes that are toxic before full cure lose their dangerous elements after full cure...example: Minwax Antique Oil Finish, which becomes food safe once it has achieved full cure.  This does, however, take time.

   Excellent idea about the teething caps.  JL

8. 
   Dave45 | Mar 05, 2007 05:34pm | #17

   Take a look at Alder as a possible wood choice.  It has a nice color (similar to cherry) in the "raw" state and works pretty well.  It isn't as hard as maple or birch and I've had good results with just a clear finish.

   I always try to experiment with my finishes before I commit to a species.  Buy just enough to make a few samples, apply your stain/finish, and see how you like the results.

   Heirloom quality can be a bit tricky.  It's often more about sentiment than an elegant design and high quality construction.  My wife is closing down her mother's house and really wants an old doll bed that her grandfather made.  It certainly isn't very pretty and it suffered from some really bad repair work over the years, but it's definitely an heirloom. - lol