Max's Bed
>Maple hardwood frame, hutch
and shelf unit.
>Birch  plywood for mattress support.
>All 4/4 hardwood maple except for top of hutch, 5/4 maple.
>Side rails are dadoed to fit 3/4" birch plywood matress support.
>Small supports were placed under plywood mattress support and screwed into rails and plywood.   Plywood was also glued into rails
>Hutch top was screwed into sides.  Countersunk with screw plugs glued in place.
>Hutch sides were screwed into bed rails, hidden under plywood.
>Edging for front of foot shelf unit, was made by me and glued in place
>Top of hutch was rounded over with a 3/8" bit, all other edges rounded over with 1/8" bit.


A few firsts for me:
1. Total use of rough wood, start to finish.  Jointed and planed maple to size 3/4".
2. No plan used, I saw a bed in catalog of a local store, my wife said "I like this one for Max", then as usual I said "I can build one".  Her usual response was OK, fine.  I checked it out, made measurements in the store and then made modifications and improvements to fit my needs.
3. Edge joined shelves, hutch sides, hutch top, and foot "cabinet" sides.
4. Sprayed the finish with an HVLP spray unit.  Asturomec 9011 gun.
Used Fuhr 355 waterborne acrylic varnish.
Got the unit from Jeff Jewitt @Homestead finishing.  Great to deal with Jeff, he guided me through my first use and it turned out GREAT!
**Compressor and spray gun were the new tools I got for/from this project.

It was a great project, with some (of course) but not too many mistakes along the way.  The best part is now and for many years to come seeing Max love his bed and telling everybody that his daddy made his cool new bed.  I think it will forever be "cool & new" to him.
Max's bed is a twin bed with a divided shelf unit under the foot of the bed, a hutch with a shelf at the head of the bed, a sitting or stuffed animal area in front of the mattress at the foot and a trundle bed below.  (Trundle to completed later).
Construction began February 2002, completed July 2002
Top corner of hutch.
You can see how nice the grain looks with the finish, and the feel is wonderful.