Wood working

[GBW]

Hey all.

 

So my wife and 7-year old daughter think that I should make my daughter a doll be for Christmas. She (my daughter) has one of these "Maplelea" dolls and told me this is what she want's.

Your Maplelea Girl will sleep soundly in her very own painted wooden bed. This sturdy four-post bed measures 56cm long x 28cm wide x 27.5cm high and is designed exclusively for your doll. (Two beds can be combined to make a bunk bed!) Some assembly required.

 

Anyone here ever build something like this? What wood is going to be easy to use as well as be strong so I don't have to fix it every other day. I also don't want to spend $50 on wood when I can go out and buy a new one for $60. Thanks in advance.

 

Geoff

[mercman]

a pine or spruce board would be the cheapest wood.you could cut it to size easily. For the bed bost knobs you could use a round dowel, and shape it with a sander until its a ball, then cut the ball off and glue it onto the post.Then brad nail it in place.

the acual head board and foot board could be made of wood veneer picked up in any hobby shop. or just cut a thin piece of the pine or spruce board and cut the round contures on a band saw or jigsaw.

 

 

 

[smally21]

you're most inexpensive hardwood would be poplar, and it is readily available at the depot or big box lumber store. a small piece of hobbyist 1/4 ply for the headboards and base, the poplar for your frames. should stain ot paint up nice as well. red or white oak would look nice, or a hard maple, just be a little more money.

good luck.

[jedimaster]

To make it thin and fairly strong your gonna need to shy away from pine. Pine will just split on you when its that small and thin. Go for poplar. Hardwoods are a bit more difficult to work with so make sure everything is pre drilled or you will be back at square one. I would say the easiest would be to buy it.

[Dara]

My thoughts are, If you need to ask this, you should just buy it.

 

If you are doing it to save money, you won't.

 

If you want to start wood working, its a good spot to start. Its a good excuse to buy tools. If you don't already have them, they will cost more than the bed itself.

 

Price a can of paint, some glue, dowels, screws, poplar at HD is a crazy price.

 

You don't save money building it yourself, and it will take a pile of time.

If you want to give something to your daughter that dad built then use that reason, not saving money.

[GBW]

Thanks all, keep the replies going.

 

Dara, I have made her a toy box in the past so she does have that 'special gift from dad'. She just want's me to make her this too.

[GBW]

On this job I'd go for pine, or for $60, I'd just buy the pre-fab bed, unless of course you want the extra sentiment of having built it yourself. Shoot me a PM if you decide to build it.

 

Cheers.

Thanks for the great info on the type of wood. I'll drop you a note soon too as I do want to make it.

[jedimaster]

You know what you could do is instead of using the wook like slat you could do the whole thing with different sized dowels. Thick ones for the posts and headboard and thinner ones for the inner headboard and slats for the base of the bed to put the mattress on. Dowels are great to work with as they are strong, cheap and all you really need is wood glue and a drill.

 

Kinda like this

[Nemo]

My link

 

Looks like teh beds are $60 each. So $120 for bunk beds.

 

Might be cheaper to make them if you have the tools, know how and time....

 

Bonne Chance mon ami

 

BTW the linens and mattress are extra. $24 a piece for a grand total of $168

 

My link

Edited October 14, 2010 by Nemo

[Dara]

Hey Geoff, I build furniture on the side for friends / family. I'm actually just finishing up an Oak coffee table & end table set for my new house. Here's a little breakdown of the different woods available at the big box stores:

 

Poplar - Medium strong. Its colour can range anywhere from very blonde to almost green. If you're going to paint it white like the picture then it's not an issue, but personally I don't use poplar for projects that will be stained.

 

Pine - Medium weak. The most affordable wood and it is plenty strong enough to use for this project, provided you design around it's strengths/weaknesses. Pine also stains very nicely if you want to go that route.

 

Maple - Strong. It's the most durable wood you'll find readily available, sands to a nice hard/fine finish, and it has the nicest grain for staining IMO, but it is $$$$$$

 

Oak - Strong. Can be a little temperamental to work with. Stains nicely, but only after A LOT of sanding.

 

 

On this job I'd go for pine, or for $60, I'd just buy the pre-fab bed, unless of course you want the extra sentiment of having built it yourself. Shoot me a PM if you decide to build it.

 

Cheers.

 

 

we need pictures of the set.

 

what woodworking forums do you frequent?

[GBW]

we need pictures of the set.

 

what woodworking forums do you frequent?

Ummm, not all people use a web site or forum for info. I hear they had "book's" a while ago and things like "practical skills" that may have gotten some folks by. But that's just a guess based on this inter-web-thing-a-ma-jig

[brickNblock]

Jeff, hows it going Bud.

Your starting a little project for the little one eh....approx 1'x2'x1'.

You havent said so far wether you've the tools yet...???? hand tools I mean..lol....lets assume you do OK.

You also got a good head start by knowing what your building, the size and close to what material..You will pay easily double more than buying but it most likely will last x10 and will come to mean more to your daughter...not to mention the wife...who may just have you start to build an onslaught of things thereafter...lol-something to think about...vs fishing time????

 

JEDIANGLER SAID IT BEST...stay right away from the pine, been there done that and thats with near 12 coats of urethane/varathane....

You are close to TROY MILLS just outside of Orono..give them a call. Its been a while but a nice experience for all involved. You tour their yard and pick your own milled to thickness wood and it cost much less than any supplier. (I loved working with the cherry or apple).

Dowels...if not a lathe buy from any rtetailer to diameter preferred and away you go...It'll cost you much the same when complete as one twice the size beleive it or not aside from the bedding but why stop there...get the wife to make the bedding/mattress and then its a family affair.

Troy mill(s) used to have a store up front where they showed off items homemade as your project and you may get a few ideas there..

-Pete

 

edit: maybe you can pick up a full size crib or something from something like the salvation army and sand down/stain, coat,.. that dowling (perhaps ornamental) and cut it to fit your mini size project??/

Edited October 15, 2010 by brickNblock

[pikehunter]

Have to agree, prob cheaper or about the same cost to just go ahead and buy it. Stuff (toys) are much all made cheaply in China these days...unfortunately, we all helped to create this problem so I can't beak off about it. However, if you happen to have the materials kicking around then make it. As said poplar would do you well and like you said, it is a lot more special if you were to make it for her and that does speak for itself.

 

My son and I made the wife a foot stool years ago as a Christmas gift from him. Bought MDF, wheels, hinges, foam and upolstry material for a total of about 20 or so bucks. Now days you can find a similiar styled one for around 20 or 30 bucks at several stores but none of them have wheels or a flip up lid so she she can store her blanket and books inside or are they as strong as this home made one. Not only that but she wouldn't part with it for anything...with that said I change my mind about buying and you should make her a bed no matter the cost!

Edited October 15, 2010 by pikehunter

[GBW]

LOL, looking for street cred?

LOL. Hey Sinclair, are you around this weekend or are you off to the new house? Let me know if we can hook up for a chat and I'll pm you if we can.

 

And to those wondering if I have tools, yes I have a fair bit of tools for wood working. Like I said, I have made a few things like my daughters toy box, a wood/electric smoker (pic's posted here when I made it) and working on my son's toy box in a week. First I need to get this bed done and done right so it's ready well before Christmas.

[GBW]

I'm around tomorrow morning, but after that I'm booked up all weekend. I'm allowed to play and get dirty until 2pm

 

turns out I can email pictures from my phone, so those are on the way!

Cool, I will connect with you just after lunch then as I have someone coming over at 10:00AM for an hour or so. PM pending for addy.

[spooner_jr]

pine is plenty strong enough for that project, and alot easier to work with than most woods. Take a trip to Peacock Lumber in Oshawa or check their website, you can get just about anything you need there.

[Dara]

Nice table sinclair...the glass shelf in the bottom is a nice touch.

 

As far as forums go, I learned a pile in a short time just seeing what other people have done.

[GBW]

Hey Sinclair, thanks again for coming over to show me those plans! I'm heading out wood shopping later today.

[GBW]

I picked up some of the wood today to try and get bed one of the two started tomorrow. So far only $40.00 spent too but I may need more items. Now I need to run out and get the finishing nailer for my compressor.

[GBW]

What is a good pin nailer to get for around $100 to do this project? My compressor hits 100 or so psi.

[Gerritt]

18 or 23g?

[GBW]

I went with an 18g one.

[Gerritt]

ok so you got a braid nailer.. what make?

[GBW]

just a hyundai for now till I get better at my wood working skills. for the price, I was shocked how easy it was to use and how well it works. I have 90% of the bunkbeds done already and I started around lunch (been done for 2 hours now too). All I need to do is the top cross piece and the dowel and they are done. Oh and a bit left of the "feet" as I ran out of wood.

[Gerritt]

awesome! cannot wait to see you're final product.

 

G