Bed, Bridge Model and more.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we will be hosting guests. That means the we are one bed short in the house so we have ordered a new mattress but not a bed to go with it... I am building the bed, no big deal right? Just a front and back panel connected by rails that disconnect when transporting the bed. Well it hasn't been that simple. What materials will I make it out of? What will it look like? How big is a queen mattress? Oh yes, and the house would be more comfortable with a heat source. Right now it is space heaters in the bedrooms and an electric warm floor in the bathroom. Sometimes I feel like this blog is a way to get my thoughts organized and my priorities straight.

Brainstorm with my wife.

I have piles of redwood fence posts that rotted at the ground level. They are too short now for posts but they still have good wood in them. I picked through a couple piles and pulled out six or seven to choose from. I  chose the five best and figured these could work as posts for the bed. I have a couple boards left over from building the windows and jambs for the yellow Gothic farmhouse and what do you know... there is just barely enough wood to give me two side rails about 80 inches long and four top and bottom rails about 60 inches long. Looks like I have the material. The panels within the posts and rails will be a padded and tufted fabric cushion.

Redwood Fence Posts

I have cut the pieces to length and even cut tenons on the front and back rails. I am a bit hesitant because I don't really have a final plan that I am building to, I am just letting the wood guide me. It should start to take shape soon.

Wood stove wire brushed and painted.

Meanwhile I wrapped up a few more projects and jumped into another with the high school geometry class. The shingle project is now complete and my clients shop is fully sided. We almost got fancy and did some shingle art, but you know, time is money and sometimes it is hard to create the time. Also the bulletin board for the MVCC is finished and installed.

Bulletin Board

A project that I am doing with the geometry class is creating a scaled model of a 50 foot suspension bridge. The class came by at looked at the site for a bridge and we talked about bridge ideas, construction methods and also a bit on the catenary curve. I have in turn visited the classroom a couple of times and together we have been constructing a miniature bridge. It was fun creating the parts and cutting small pieces of wood that represent footings, piers, posts, beams, joists and planks. At one inch equals one foot a four by four is equal to a five sixteenths by five sixteenths. An eight by eight is just under three quarters by three quarters. I made all the pieced fit together with tenons and mortises so that it could easily be broken down. We have one more session to finish the model.

Suspension Bridge Model