Sawdust on the Floor

Hey welcome back.  Looks like a great day to continue to work on building the bed headboard. I’ve got a fresh cup of coffee, and there are no other projects that need my attention today, so I think its time to get busy. Last time, we got the spindle portion of the headboard done. Today I want to get that connected to the corner posts, and then work on the flat sections that are installed above and below the spindles.

The wood for the corner posts is mainly from the pallet lumber I scrounged up.  The pieces that I selected for the inside edges aren’t the prettiest pieces I have ever used, but they do have one very important feature, no voids or knots. I intend to make several connections to the horizontal parts of the head board through these pieces, so any imperfections could jeopardize the structural integrity of the project. As with all of the pallet stock, I took the time to verify that the stock was free of any hidden metal using a Metal Detector similar to the ones used by the TSA folks at the airport before I cleaned it up.  Once that task was taken care up, I used my jointer and then the surface planer to produce two pieces of  4/4 stock that were 5″ wide by 56 1/4″ long.   

The bottom rail is mounted 34 1/2″ off of the floor.  The connection to the two corner post boards is made with glue and two 3″ long sheet rock screws, into each of the rails.  To prevent splitting of the wood, both of the corner boards and the rails were pre drilled.  The holes on the inside of the corner posts were also chamfered with a  counter sink bit.   The spindle section is centered in the corner post boards. 

The next item to work on is the flat board directly under the spindle section.   This is simply a 6 1/2″ wide piece of 4/4 stock that is the same  83″ long as the spindle section.  I used a combination of sheet rock screws and Kreg Pocket joinery to install this piece.  Along the top edge of this piece are several Kreg Pocket screws that hold the stock to the bottom of the spindle section.  From the backside of the corner posts, there are three 2″ long sheet rock screws, running vertically to connect the ends of the stock to the corner posts boards. I figured that fasteners running in two independent directions would help keep this thing stable.

The upper flat board is essentially the same as the bottom one, with a couple of exceptions.  On the upper board, I installed a bead molding around the entire perimeter of this flat portion for decoration only. The top of this flat board is connected to the bottom of the cap rail, in much the same way as the bottom flat board was connected to the bottom of the spindle section.  Kreg screws along the top that will go into the bottom of the cap rail, and horizontal screws thought the corner post inside boards. There is also one other very important distinction, this piece of stock is connected on its bottom edge as well as the top and sides. Initially I wanted to connect this bottom edge to the top of the spindle section, using a simple Kreg screw connection, just as I had done on upper edge of this board. However, the upper rail of the spindle section was not suitable for this purpose.  If you recall, I cut through mortises in this piece for the spindles.  That action left very little room to secure the flat stock to, because although the mortises were cut all the way through, the tenons in them did not come all the way through. This left voids along the top  edge of the top rail. 

To compensate for this over sight, I decided to add a bottom rail to the upper flat board section.  This is simply a piece of 4/4 Stock that was cut to 83″ long by 2 1/2″ wide. Down the center of this piece I cut a mortise slot for the flat stock to set in.  I used my Shaper equipped with a 3/4″ straight bit for this purpose.

I also rounded over the edges of this piece with a Triple bead router bit. I adjusted the height of the bit, so that I only used the bottom two beads.   This piece of trim was screwed down to the top of the upper rail of the spindles and the ends were connected with screws that came through the inside corner post boards. I next inserted the upper flat board.  I simply used glue on the bottom edge, where it went into the slot of this added trim piece.  The ends were then connected by using screws that came through the inside of the corner posts boards.                                                          

At this point, all I really had left to do was to install the upper cap rail of the head board, and then complete the corner posts themselves. But I soon realized I had a problem. I could not get the head board assembly to stand up by itself. The combined length of the assembly, and the single boards on the corner posts, made this thing very unwieldy.  I was afraid that the project would topple over and break or worse.  I also really didn’t have any place in the shop where I could brace it against something, while I continued to work on it.  This kind of forced me into finishing the corner posts before I completed the top rail cap. 

Back when I was working on the stock for the inside boards of the corner posts, I had taken the time to cut Kreg Pocket screw holes along the front edge of each board. These would become the connection points for the front panel of the corner posts, to these inside pieces of the corner.   But before I could connect the front panel, I needed to make one modification to them.  Behind the sconces, (remember the lamps that started this project) I wanted to install an electrical box, so that I could make safe electrical connection to bring power to the lamps.  I choose to use what is known as a ” New Work” electrical box.  Installing them was a simple matter of locating their position on the front panel, and then using a jig saw, cutting out an access hole for them. A word about the front panels, these boards were selected for their appearance above all else.  These are the main focal point of the head board so the grain pattern in these was critical.  As I always do, the front panels were dressed using both the jointer and then the surface planer. 

When I attached the fronts to the inside boards, I purposely created a 1/4″ offset, where the front panel over hangs the sides.  This was done not only to hide any end grain, but also the 1/4″ offset created an interesting shadow line.  Another set of boards with the same dimensions as the inner side boards were created.  These boards which became the outsides edges of the corner posts, were attached to the front with more of the Kreg Pocket screws. To keep the corners absolutely square I cut three spacers for each post. These spacers were installed horizontally within the post, one at the top, one at the bottom and one in the center of the posts. The center one also had an access hole bored into it to allow the power cable for the lamps to pass through. Even though I used shielded electrical wire for the power, I installed grommets  in the holes to protect the electrical wires from ever chafing on the edges of the holes.

I did not attach the back of the post yet.  I wanted to make sure I had all of the connections within the posts accounted for before I closed them up. But with the corners now fleshed out, I was able for the first time to stand up the headboard on its own. The added girth of the corners, provided the stability that I was missing before. Now I could get back to the top cap of the head board. 

The top cap is made out of a piece of 6/4 Cherry that I purchased.  After dressing it to a final dimension of 4 1/2″ wide, and 83″ long, I returned to my tablesaw to cut a 22.5° bevel  on both sides of the cap piece.   Because cherry tends to burn easily, I made the cuts in several passes, adjusting the rip fence closer to the blade on each repetitive pass.  When I was finally happy with the bevel, I turned to my random orbital sander to clean up the surface and to remove the few burn marks that had made their way to the stock. I also used the random orbital sander to round off the edges of the bevel as I didn’t want any shape edges on this project at all.  To connect the cap to the head board, I used sheet rock screws from inside the corner posts along the ends.  The horizontal portion was connected to the upper rail of the top flat board, with screws coming up from underside of the rail.  Originally I had planned to just put the screws through the back of the rail only, but I found that the cap tended to roll toward the back, leaving a gap along the front, when I attached the screws along the back edge only. This then forced me to add a couple of screws along the front edge of upper rail.  

Now I had another issue that I hadn’t counted on. I had exposed screws that I had to cover up.  So I decided to add an additional trim piece below the cap to take care of this problem.  This cap piece is simply a piece of 1/4″ stock that was cut to a width of 2 1/2″ this allows the piece to stand proud of the cap front edge. Before I installed it, I ran the front edge of the trim over my shaper that I had equipped with a beading bit.  After a little fine sanding, I attached the trim piece with a couple of small brads from my nail gun. 

So now I can finally put the back of the corner posts on.  These were cut to the same dimensions as the front panel.  I made one modification to these boards. A large hole was bored near the bottom for an access hole for the power cable for the lamps.  After routing the power cable though the back and the center stiffener and finally into the electrical box, I finally attached the back panel. The back panels over hung the sides by the same 1/4″ overlay on both sides as the front.  I used predrilled through holes to attach the back to the sides,  No glue in case I ever needed to get back inside the corner posts. 

All that’s left is to apply the trim, but it’s time for my favorite foot team to play.  And if I hurry and clean up the shop I can go inside and enjoy the game.  Next time I hope to get the trim on and then finish this thing up.

As I was writing this up, I confused myself with the names for all of the parts.  So I have attached a sketch of the Head boards with the parts identified.  Hope it helps clear up any confusion. Click on the image to load a close up of the sketch.

Related posts:

1. Woodworking Project – Building a Bed Headboard Part 1
2. Woodworking Projects Building a Bed Headboard Part 2
3. Woodworking Project – Steamer Trunk Part 3
4. Woodworking Project – Circuit Breaker Panel Part 2 – Raised Panels
5. Woodworking Project Table Top Clock Part 2