Jump to content
Title of the document

Jarra and Mac slab Queen sized Bed


Chet

Recommended Posts

Submitted on the old forum by Puka

 

A buddy commissioned me to build him a bed. Not sure if I've shown this or not but if I have here it is again. If not then . . .
 
000 BED.JPG
 
Plus my awesomely messy work shop. The bed corners could only be lifted with a hoist hence the ring bolts in the top of each one. JARA. There are like wooden concrete or steel. Damn things are stupid hard and heavy.
BED WOOD 01.JPGBED WOOD 02.JPGBED WOOD 03.JPGBED WOOD 04.JPGBED WOOD 05.JPGBED WOOD 06.JPGBED WOOD 07.JPGBED WOOD 08.JPGBED WOOD 09.JPG
 
So the four railway sleepers standing up against the shed were what i started with but as you can see once i started cutting slots the wood grain which was rather holey started falling apart. So I swapped them for the bigger posts. pic 3 and 4 shows the head board slab and the foot board slab. pic 5 is measuring the posts for the slab slots, pic 6 and 7 are cutting the slots. The last two pics are building and fitting the slats and centre board/hanger thingy.
 
Follow uo posts

1) Damn! Those slabs look amazing! Great job! 

How did you connect the slabs to the 4 posts?

2) Really cool build. Hope your bud’s bedroom wasn’t upstairs!

3) I cut slots in the posts with a skill saw then used a chisel to cut out the waste, Chisels kept going blunt for some reason. I used an off cut that was the same width as the slab and the same length to get the slot the right width and height and dept etc...I then drilled a big arse hole through the post from the slot out to the other side. I assembled the posts and the slab using the hoist to keep the slab at the right height pushed them altogether then used a sharp rod and a hammer to mark the drill positions in the slab by running the rod through the posts and whacked the end with the hammer.
I drilled a hole into the slab through the end then drilled a much bigger hole at right angles in to this hole. Ran the rod into the wood and put a washer and a nut on it. Pushed the whole thing together and then put another washer and nut on the outside. Once tightened up the inside assembly was hidden inside the post while the outside was counter sunk into the post.

I attached the bits of wood that hold the slates the same way, chiselled out a slot then drilled and cut only a single hole and rod. The bed ends once the rod was trimmed and the nuts tightened were never undone. I did my back in a couple of time pissing about with this damn bed hence the reason I brought the hoist. Since I seem to do a lot of projects with wood that's as heavy as concrete. Those posts I could only just lift on my own if a did a squat, hugged them to my body and and straightened my legs like you do when u lift a post out of a hole. Gotta keep the back straight or its an instant week off work.  

I gave the Macracarpa slabs a couple of coats of Cabots Spar Varnish which really pulled the grain detail out. 

Anywho it was the biggest bitch of project I have ever done and will never do another using Jarra posts like that again. 

I took the bed to his place where we used his hoist to unload it into his wood shed. 

Told him where he could stick his bed and left him to it.

I probably should ask him if he ever got around to putting in his house. 

4) It might have been easier for him to just build a new house around the bed.

5) Maybe but he used full length square Jarra power poles as roof beams, needed a crane to lift them into place as they were incredibly heavy.

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;  remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...