Walnut Bed part 5: Dry Fit

It has been over a week since my last post and like many of you I have been tied up with thanksgiving travel. Now that I am back in the shop things seem to be progressing once again. Over the past three days I have sized and fine tuned the fit of the walnut panels which now fit nicely in the curved frames I discussed on my last post.

Today I mortised the posts to accept the hidden bed rail hardware and cut the curves and tapers which flow along the outside edge of all four posts.

The mortise for the hardware is composed of three separate mortises. One large mortise accepts the female plate and the two smaller mortises allows clearance for the pins of the corresponding connector.

The pinned plate will be mortised into the end of the bed rail and provide for a clean look to the assembled bed frame

Here is a look at the dry fit foot board ready for final sanding and radius edge profile.

Once this piece gets a bit of varnish the colors in the wood will begin to blend very nicely. I am vary satisfied with the joinery on this piece and look forward to seeing it completed. There is still a good amount of work left to do. I still need to cut the side rails to length. Mortise the end grain of the side rails for the bed rail hardware, fabricate and install the dovetailed slats, pre-finish each component with four coats of hand rubbed varnish,  assemble the bed with draw bore pins and get it out of the shop.

I often wonder what moose thinks about all of this.

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