Fremont Bed

This project completes my Greene & Greene style bedroom suite for the Guild. While the design ties in closely with the Fremont Nightstand and Chest of Drawers –  I’ve introduced a couple of new elements as well,such as  shaped inlay (as opposed to square ebony plugs) and crotch mahogany veneers. I made full use of […]

I enjoyed doing the crotch mahogany veneers in this project. The leaves were long enough so I was able to lay the foot board and head board up as one piece then split them  – creating continuous grain.   The veneer I had to work with was rather wide so I was able to lay up […]

I used my CNC to cut out most of the parts of the bed. Some parts though were longer than the bed of my machine. To accommodate the extra length, I had to re-reference and shift the stock down. I had contemplated this process in the past, but this was my first project employing the […]

I have been working off centers for many years. It relates back to my days in production. It’s very fast and it’s a positive way to ensure one element is centered on the other. It is critical that all like parts are exactly the same thickness, and that registration is consistent. If those things are […]

Again, I routed the mortises based on centers but in a different way and for a slightly different purpose. I am still referencing first off one face and then the other. But this time my purpose is to eliminate a secondary set-up when routing the other end of the rail or when dealing with right […]

The cast iron bed hardware I used in the video were left over from stock I had from a few years back. When I went to make out the cut list -to my chagrin that particular size did not appear to be available.  My original purchase of the hardware came from either Paxton or Van […]

Floating tenons are both strong and quick. It is another method I took up during my production years where both the quality of the joint and efficiency were important. With a smaller project, where the glue-up is less complicated, I would opt for a slightly tighter fit of the tenon. In this case I sized […]

Glue-ups are where it all comes together. It can make or break a project and be the source of a lot of stress. I made a rule years ago to not to answer the phone during a glue-up. Having been there I am sure you understand why. The problem was my wife would call me […]

Instead of square ebony pegs I have updated this version of my Fremont bed with inlays that mimic the shape of nearby elements. With the square pegs I back-bevel them and make them slightly over the size of their respective holes. Not so with the inlays here. The inlay pocket is only 1/8” deep – […]

The length of the bed rails can be varied to accommodate room for bedding that tucks in at the foot of the bed. I made room for 2 ½” of bedding – you may want to change that number. I like to make little pockets for the bed slats to fit into – as opposed […]

The bed is almost done and the excitement builds! In the process of handling things, the bed will have picked up minor (let’s hope they are minor) scratches and dings. It is time well spent finding them and dealing with them. I switched to using  Livos  a few years ago. It wasn’t that I was […]