Mortise & tendon style bed plans

[rusty]

Was watching the history channel the other day and they showed eustace Conway making what appears to be a locking mortise & tendon style heavy duty bed frame that can be knocked down.
Does anyone have information on this style Or where I can buy a set of plans.
It showed very nice jointary.
thanks-harry
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[Dave Richards]

Can you provide more information about the bed he was making? How were his tenons locked into the bed posts?

Creating a bed frame with mortise and tenon joinery that can be knocked down wouldn't be difficult. Nor would creating a plan for one. If you don't find a ready-made plan, I could make one. Years ago I made plans for a work bench that uses an interesting dovetail tenon that could certainly be used for a bed.

 

[Jeff]

I believe that it's called a tusk tenon which is locked in place with a wooden wedge. It would be a type of knock-down joint.

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/hand-tool-techniques-tusk-tenons/

Here's the joint applied to a knock-down workbench and the principle would be the same for a bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCtv1UkW1wU

It'd be easy to make your own plan as Dave says.

 

[Chris C]

I saw that episode. It looked more like a wedged tenon rather than a tusk style. He just cut an oversized mortise and drove a thick wedge in.... just resting it on top of the tenon horizontally.

 

[Dave Richards]

I hunted up that workbench I mentioned. The stretchers slide into the mortise and drop down before the wedge is driven in. I think this could make a very nice knock down bed assembly.

 

[Charlie Buchanan]

I hunted up that workbench I mentioned. The stretchers slide into the mortise and drop down before the wedge is driven in. I think this could make a very nice knock down bed assembly.

This looks like a good joint for the purpose—especially with the ledge that the full rail sits on. I assume the wedge protrudes a little on the small end making it possible to knock out. Got to try making one. A regular tusk tenon might get in the way on a bed.

 

[KenOfCary]

Dave, thanks for sharing. I really like the looks of that tenon and as Charlie said it would be ideal for a knock-down bed frame.

 

[Dave Richards]

Yes. The wedge does protrude so it can be knocked out.

 

[Jeff]

I hunted up that workbench I mentioned. The stretchers slide into the mortise and drop down before the wedge is driven in. I think this could make a very nice knock down bed assembly.

That's very interesting. Did someone actually make this joint in the shop based on that design? The through mortise looks pretty difficult to me to chop out with chisels and get the angles correct. A few dimensions with a bed rail and dovetail tenon angle would be interesting (1.5"-2" t x 6-8" w).

 

[Graywolf]

It's a beautiful joint, and it's not that hard to execute. Lay out is critical other than that it's a matter of just doing the basic woodworking skills.

 

[Dave Richards]

Yes. Jeff. That joint was made in the shop. I didn't just pull it out of my hat. In fact it was made before I got the sketches to use for developing the plan. See this link.

 

[McRabbet]

The same wedged dovetail joint that Dave shows above was used by Robert Lang in his 21st Century Workbench that was published in Popular Woodworking back in October 2008 (Here is a link to a video describing the bench and these joints). He made the mortises for his lower stretchers by simple saw cuts in 1-1/2 stock (basically a wide dovetail) and then glued it to an inner half of the leg to form the mortise. The stretchers were straight on one edge and had a half tail on the other edge. They are assemble with a protruding wedge which makes them easy to knockdown.

Not sure what method John Tetreault used in his bench to cut the mortises, but a dovetailed mortise would not be real easy through solid wood.

 

[Dave Richards]

Not sure what method John Tetreault used in his bench to cut the mortises, but a dovetailed mortise would not be real easy through solid wood.

John drilled the bulk of the waste out with a Forstner bit and did the rest by hand with chisel and mallet.