Zane's Toddler Bed

[deemon328]

I haven't had much time to design new projects this year, but here's a bed I completed last month. It's a toddler bed frame. The headboard and footboard took around 5 hours each to carve.

I'm especially proud of the vortex on the footboard. It's delicate and perfect and really shows the quality that the carvewright can create. The depth is .250" on the vortex. The changes in light over the course of the day highlight and shadow different parts of the spiral, creating exactly the dramatic effect I imagined.

The block letters worked really well with medium draft. I used aniline dyes to color the blocks.

I had some major design flaws in the bed, with the worst being that I didn't account for the height of the pillow on the headboard. Sadly, the pillow covers the block lettering.

Unfortunately, Zane hates the bed, so we had to go back to the crib for a while. I'll try again in the fall once he turns 3.

[Kenm810]

Dustin,

The Bed looks terrific and I'm sure Zane will soon come to think so too.
May be a couple of matching leg extinctions for the head board and another narrow vortex panal and bottom cap
under the name panel would take care of the pillow problem.

[Eagle Hollow]

Dustin,

Great job! Your vortex design shows that simplicity is often the most effective way to make a statement. It appears impeccably perfect in the picture. Is the pattern available? Keep carving and posting!!

Jerry
1.126

[hotpop]

Dustin,

That's a great looking bed. Love your vortex.

[oldjoe]

Once Zane gets comfortable in his new bed he will rest easy knowing how much you care for him. Making something like that is a labor of love which in my opinion is the best kind. It will become a family heirloom.

Love the job you did great job!

[forqnc]

I had some major design flaws in the bed, with the worst being that I didn't account for the height of the pillow on the headboard. Sadly, the pillow covers the block lettering.



He He, not laughing at you, but when people see what I am building they often ask where my plans are, or how am I going to do this. Then I tap my head or say "I haven't figured that out yet.
So I am laughing because I have had many design flaws I have had to creatively overcome. Hey it keeps me on my toes.
The bed looks great, especially the vortex.
Good Luck on overcoming the Flaw and I am sure it will still turn out great and Zane will come to love it.

[deemon328]

He He, not laughing at you, but when people see what I am building they often ask where my plans are, or how am I going to do this. Then I tap my head or say "I haven't figured that out yet.
So I am laughing because I have had many design flaws I have had to creatively overcome. Hey it keeps me on my toes.


LOL, I've got to admit that my mistakes have made me such a confident woodworker over the years. You should have seen the look on my face when I assembled the headboard to the bed rails backwards. I was so busy admiring the 'vortex' that I got sucked in and forgot to make Zane's name point in the right direction! So there I am with 5 neat dowelmax holes on both posts with PVA glue setting as I scrambled to bang the whole thing apart again to drill new holes on the correct side. Of course, I didn't have Besseys long enough for the bed, so I was also juggling strap clamps in that tiny 15 minute window. It makes me really glad sometimes that I have a one-man shop so people can't see the magic happen! :rolleyes:

[mtylerfl]

Dustin,

You did a wonderful job - really cool!

[SandBuoy]

Great looking bed Justin. Bet your proud of that one.

[CustomWestCoast]

Nice job on the bed

[castingman]

Looks great,
I think the vortex would keep me up ! Like the snake in Jungle book I
Is that ambrosia maple i see ?
Michael

[dewey6800]

Great job!! I'm sure if Zane was older he would appreciate the great job you did.

[deemon328]

Ambrosia maple? That sounds expensive and Greek :) Here's what I can tell you:

On my parents farm, there was a fire from a railroad not far from Horseshoe Curve that decimated the forest on our side of the mountain very many decades ago. Until that time, the area was still uncut forest. There were 2 surviving maple trees just beyond the crest of the hill at the upper edge of our property. A few years back, wind blew one of them over. These trees were well more than 2 adults could wrap their arms around, quite impressive for Central Pennsylvania trees. I cut many 8' logs out of the tree. Even the branches were over 24" in diameter. The center of the tree was hollow, but all around the ring of wood that remained was various states of compression, creating some pretty tight and figured grain patterns.

When I got the stump log down to the mill, I spent hours cutting it into 4 sections so that we could fit it onto the band saw mill. My hands were numb from the chainsaw vibration. The band mill guys weren't impressed with the look of my efforts, but they didn't have the vision or care to appreciate what this tree could provide in it's fall. I would not accept anything but complete usage of this irreplaceable piece of history.

I had the sawmill guys quarter saw the sections in the stump log. Even with the hollow core, each section still produced many boards over 8" wide with combination of sapwood and some heartwood.

The second log was even more special. Freed from the hollow core of the stump log, we squared the log on the band mill and created several 22" wide flat sawn boards with the most interesting wavy grain pattern. Each cathedral grain line looked like it oscillated. Someday I'll use it for a special project, but never for an ordinary one.

Several more logs followed, limbs the size of most other standing trees in our forest. It took over a full day to saw the tree into the best boards that I could envision, the best respect that I could show for a tree that stood for hundreds of years.

[AskBud]

Here is a link that speaks to your Maple.
AskBud
http://www.haleydaniels.com/Woods.htm

[hotpop]

deemon328,

I really enjoyed your story of the Maple Tree. It almost brought a tear to my eye. I have a soft spot for trees and animals I guess.

Not a joke, thanks for sharing.

[deemon328]

I've never heard of ambrosia beetles before, but that's definitely what it looks like on the one leg of the headboard. I cut a lot of that coloration off when creating the legs because of the holes.

It was a fun event that I should always remember. The only thing I wished I had done differently was to buy my own little bandmill. It's really fun to open up a log and pick the most pleasing cuts.

[castingman]

I have some abrosia maple , I though thats what it was, I made a box out of most of it realy looked cool.

Your work is great!! I wish i had that talent.

Great job Michael

[bizbiki]

Zanes bed looks great, I love the vortex. Maybe you can tell us how you did it?

[deemon328]

I used a fractal imaging program to make the spiral, then jumped through the usual photoshop/PNG/import hoops. The original image was circular, so I stretched it to rectangular.

[mtylerfl]

I used a fractal imaging program to make the spiral, then jumped through the usual photoshop/PNG/import hoops. The original image was circular, so I stretched it to rectangular.

Hello Dustin,

I still own an old DOS-based fractal generator, but no longer use it.

What program are you using?

[deemon328]

It's called quadrium.