Replies

1. 
   Pondfish | Apr 04, 2005 01:10am | #1

   Glue, but not screw.  Since they are captive spindles, there isn't any great reason to glue them, but they look hefty enough that you would get a little more strength to the piece by glueing them.  Good insurance in case your SO ever gets passionate...

1. 
   MarkRD | Apr 04, 2005 02:19am | #2

   or likes to be tied up ... ;-)Mark

   Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.

2. 
   Dave45 | Apr 04, 2005 02:36am | #3

   I'm going to take the contrarian position and suggest that you NOT glue them.  You have a cross-grain joint there and normal expansion/contraction will cause it to fail eventually.  Other outside forces causing stress on the joints may hasten the failure (use your imagination, OK - lol)

   I would use a brad to hold each tenon and call it good.

3. 
   AlbionWood | Apr 04, 2005 03:06am | #4

   No screws necessary or desirable! Glue will be quite sufficient. Or, for a nice effect, you could peg them.

   Dave is mistaken; the tenons are not wide enough to cause cross-grain failure. Indeed, this is a classic mortise-and-tenon application.

   Of greater concern are the corner joints. I'd glue and peg those, but glue alone is probably sufficient if the fit is good. Gluing all the spindles in place will also take a lot of the stress off the corners, I think.

   Glue-up should be quite the rodeo. Practice dry-fitting until you can do it quickly enough (you only have a few minutes open time with yellow glue, depending on temperature and humidity).

   "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."  A. Einstein

   http://www.albionworks.net

1. 
   cherryjohn | Apr 04, 2005 02:03pm | #5

   Id use white glue on this because of the longer set up time. 

    Now the real question............ you get many girls in black eye shadow and white paste makeup buying your furniture?  That Goth thing the kids are into just seems so weird to me.  I am intrigued by your market focus.  As my 88 y/o mom would say, " there is a button for every hole" and it seems you have found your button or hole.  I have to wonder what sort of home youd have to have to buy reproduction 15th century furniture for it.  Then again it might just be the NH vs Calif thinking with regards to home decorating.  The prices are quite reasonable too.  You must be retired !

   Wicked Decent Woodworks

   (oldest woodworking shop in NH)

   Rochester NH

   " If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"

   Edited 4/4/2005 7:11 am ET by CHERRYJOHN

1. 
   AlbionWood | Apr 04, 2005 08:10pm | #6

   I get some Goth-types ogling the furniture, but none buying. Most of my market is to medieval enthusiasts and re-enactors. The prices are too cheap but there was a strategy there... it has worked so far. I've basically been working on getting better and faster and connecting with the higher end of the market for this sort of thing, while paying for equipment upgrades. I no longer make anything on spec, it's all custom now, so the Website is more of a bseline to guide people rather than a catalog.The whole point of the Goth thing is to seem weird to people like you! Isn't that what kids always strive for - to be incomprehensible to their parents' generation? :-DI have several customers on the East Coast, so it isn't just a NH vs. CA thing. In fact there is probably a much better market for Victorian Gothick repros on the East Coast. But there are medievalists everywhere!I am sort of semi-retired; the furniture biz does not have to pay for mortgage, kids, etc., although it would be nice if it paid for health insurance."Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."  A. Einstein

   http://www.albionworks.net

1. 
   cherryjohn | Apr 04, 2005 08:34pm | #7

   I guess I didnt know that there were that many medieval fans out there. 

   As far as pricing goes, I saw you use of quarter sawn oak and then the prices and I was thinking you must have a big stand of white oak out back and a brother who owns a lumber mill to be able to price the stuff like you have.  I told my wife about your web site this morning and what market you focused on and she squinched her nose and said " who would buy stuff like that?"  Then I showed her the stuff on your site............... " Oh I like that".......Women.........will never understand em' and you cant just shoot em'.  Well I guess you can in India, but NH frowns on itWicked Decent Woodworks

   (oldest woodworking shop in NH)

   Rochester NH

   " If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"

1. 
   MarkRD | Apr 04, 2005 08:40pm | #8

   Check out:http://www.sca.org/Societ for Creative Anacronisims... Some folks are pretty serious about it (I'm not into it but I know some who are - their house is decorated midevil, he shoots a cross bow and a long bow, she makes queens gowns... some make chain mail from scratch, forge their own swords ...They often never learn the real names of the people they "perform" with. They only know the character names...Mark
   

   Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.

2. 
   cherryjohn | Apr 04, 2005 10:35pm | #10

   They are from the Kingdome of Escapism I think.  The Kingdom of Reality went away with AtlantisWicked Decent Woodworks

   (oldest woodworking shop in NH)

   Rochester NH

   " If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"

3. 
   MarkRD | Apr 04, 2005 11:10pm | #11

   *smirk* yup. But we all need to escape once in a while - that's why I have a woodshop :-)Mark

   Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.

4. 
   cherryjohn | Apr 04, 2005 11:22pm | #12

   thats why I have a woodshop and a motorcycle...................I am the crown Prince of the Kingdom of EscapismWicked Decent Woodworks

   (oldest woodworking shop in NH)

   Rochester NH

   " If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"

5. 
   AlbionWood | Apr 05, 2005 05:55am | #13

   The SCA has one event that draws over 10,000 people every year. There's a lot of medieval fans out there, all right!I sure wish I had access to green or air-dried White Oak, it would be easier to plane and carve. The QSWO is cheaper than a lot of other woods, though, and I use it judiciously. Also I have a stockpile of 1/2" "backer board" that I got cheap from a Bay Area supplier, and I use that wherever possible.Still, you are right in suspecting my prices are too low. They are. An increase is overdue, so your wife better get her order in soon. (She is obviously a woman of discerning taste - what is she doing with you?) :-D Of course, it's also possible that the work isn't as good as it looks in the photos - you can do a lot with Photoshop nowadays, you know! ;-)
   "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."  A. Einstein

   http://www.albionworks.net

6. 
   cherryjohn | Apr 06, 2005 12:18am | #14

   My wife will not be passing on any orders for the time being.  Seems she likes the work of another semi-retired wood worker just fine.  Oh, and he is pretty good wood working too...................well I say that in some jest since seeing the things some of our friends make in here.  Just when I start feeling good about my work someone posts a pic in the gallery that wants to make me take up cheese making as a hobby.  She likes what I make and raves to all her pals about how handy I am though so that counts for something I guess.

   Wicked Decent Woodworks

   (oldest woodworking shop in NH)

   Rochester NH

   " If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"

   Edited 4/5/2005 8:39 pm ET by CHERRYJOHN

4. 
   cwalvoord | Apr 04, 2005 10:08pm | #9

   Hacker 454,
   I am just finishing off a bed that is somewhat similar to yours and I used only glue for all the joints. I made a similar bed about 13 years ago also using only glue for the M&T joints and it has survived so far without any problems.

   I will repeat the advice to practice assembling the whole thing before trying it with glue. I had everything laid out (see attached pic) and practiced and still just barely got it all together with yellow glue. White glue probably would have been a better choice.

   Chris

   BTW, there is a bent lamination top rail not shown in the pics that attaches to the protruding posts on the ends with fairly shallow M&T joints. I used epoxy on those as I did not want to take any chances with gaps in the small amount of surface area I had to work with.