Cherry Pencil Post Beds

Cherry Pencil Post Bed

Over my 30 years of making furniture professionally, I have a few designs that have been mainstays of my business.   My Pencil Post Beds are one of those.  I seem to consistently make at least 2 and maybe 4 of these each year.  The bed is a lot of cherry. 2 1/2' square posts at the base with a  transition to an eight sided taper.  This transition is made by way of a carved "lamb's tongue".   The facets of the eight sided taper are scribed with a spar makers scribe and then power planed to rough out stock to get close to the scribe lines.  The final sizing is done with a hand plane.  

Bolted joints make for a solid, quiet bed.

Every bed is made custom to fit the customer's mattress dimensions and to finish off at the height desired by the customer.   At present, I offer three options for finishing off the posts.  They can be left bare, they can have cross bars (known as testers), or they can have finials.  I turn the finials by hand. The finials incorporate a 1/4" diameter steel post that sticks out of the bottom. This is simply dropped into the hole at the top of the post. No wooden peg to break off.

The rails are joined to the posts with an exposed bolt that makes a very solid joint that will not wear out. If the bed were to "loosen up" over the winter due to wood movement, they can simply be tightened.  I discovered this design on an original Shaker meeting house trestle table that was made to break down for storage. I loved the practical honesty of the bolt. There was no attempt to hide it behind a brass decorative plate or to sink it deep into the wood.  It was celebrated for what it was. The right material for the job.  I do offer a completely hidden bolt design but there would be an extra cost as I have custom nuts made for the bolts and the woodwork required is time consuming.   I prefer  to see the blackened bolt as a detail that contrasts nicely to the warm wood.  Check out this and other designs at www.TimothyClark.com.

Queen size bed with finials.

Posts after final shaping ready for finish sanding.

Detail of the post and finial.  

Enjoy the crazy weather we are having.  Rain and 50 degrees yesterday.  Today, 15 degrees and a snow storm. 

Lucy says, "Just enjoy the weather!"

Tim
                                         

Busy Busy Busy

I have not posted a new blog in a long time.  I have had a very busy summer and fall that has not left me with a lot of free time.  I did just start an instagram page- timothyclarkfurniture that I am using quite a bit.  Mostly, I am posting shots of work in progress right from
the shop.  You can see a small slideshow at the right on this page.

I am just finishing up a king size Painted Pencil Post Bed that will be going to Texas soon.  It is my second pencil post bed to Houston in the last six months. Interesting.   The pictures below were taken after the first coat of milk paint.  It is still gray and dull looking.  After the second coat, it will be oiled and then sealed and will have a dark look with a low sheen.

Shavings from planing out the various parts of the bed.

Below is a drawing of the huge bench that has taken up much of my time lately. It will be over 25' long and will turn a corner at each end and run for a bit over 4'.  So in all, it will be around 33' feet long. The Buddha had 33 teeth they say.  So therefore...     when I finish I may just achieve Nirvana.  Just checking to see if anyone is reading this.

The crest rail is almost completed on the end of the bench.

OK, a few shots of Stella who always keeps me entertained.

Have a good Thanksgiving.

Tim

Finished Cherry Pencil Post Bed

This king size pencil post bed made it to the New York City area last week. Below are a few shots of the finished bed.  

posts and top cross pieces ready for loading into the car

My signature, date and weather when finished, on the back side of the headboard.

a bed, too big to photograph properly.  photoshop?

My slat system that supports the mattress.

The rail to post bolts that I use on all of my beds.  Very strong.

Right now in the shop, I am busy on a Farm House Bed, a Painted Pencil Post Bed, and a couple of  New Waltham Side Chairs.

It should be getting a bit warmer tomorrow.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.
Tim

Pencil Post Bed Progress

Fitting a headboard for a pencil post bed can be a challenge since the posts are not straight and as you can see in the picture below, the joining face on the post can not be scribed directly from the post to the headboard stock.  That was a long sentence.

 Below, you can see the cutout and joint marked in pencil and a spline is bent to create the curve of the top edge of the headboard.

The shot below shows the headboard joint during the first test assembly.  The post is not yet sanded.

Here is the whole bed, minus the top cross pieces.

Finished photos will come soon.  As you can see, it can be difficult to set up a king size bed in my shop. Photographing it is much harder.

This bed is getting it's final wax coat today and will head to the New York City area early tomorrow morning. 

Enjoy the cold.

Tim

Making the Pencil Posts for a cherry king size bed

Making pencil post is one of my favorite jobs that I do.  The post that runs as a square for about 2' (depending on the finished height of the mattress) and then transitions into an eight sided taper to the top is a very complex piece to create.   It starts with machine accuracy as the four posts are milled out square, drilled at one end with a registration hole, and tapered on four sides on the table saw with a jig that is only used to that purpose.  Then the fun starts.

The spar-makers scribe scratches lines that follow the taper and designate where the addition four facets will be added.  I have been using this same scribing tool for about 27 years ever since Tom Kiley showed me how to make one after learning from an article in WoodenBoat magazine.  I started my professional furniture making career while working for Tom in Charlotte, Vermont in 1986.  

Anyway, this tool was originally used to help make a tapering sailing ship spar even as it was cut with hand tools.    In the case of the pencil post, we are leaving the facets on the post.  If I wanted a rounded taper, I would just plane off all of the edges of the facets. The spar makers scribe is pictured below. The tiny points between the pegs are the scribes.

Back to beds.  In the image below I am carving the fair curve of the lamb's tongue with a straight chisel.  It takes a lot of practice to get this right but it is the best way to make this transitional part from facet to square.

The images below are of a completed lamb's tongue and facet.  At the bottom is a video of finishing a facet with a hand plane.

Back to the shop to get this bed done.

Enjoy the darker evenings with the clocks changed back an hour.  Personally, I'd rather that they did not change it so that I could get more done outside in the afternoons.

Tim