New Bed - Completed

 It's done and in place, and it even feel good, we'll see if we get a good nights sleep if it's good or not. I applied two coats of white pickle stain to the main parts and painted the support boards and the slats white. I also rubbed on a polish to help protect it a bit.  It's a much needed improvement over the one I built 24 years ago in an old shed with hand tools and some power tools. I guess it was about time. Here is a before and after look, I still need to make a new end table so more work for me in the shop.  

What we had, a very solid bed frame.

What we have now, also very solid and much brigher.

New Bed - Part 2

Over the past few days I have glued up several parts, and now it's done to the pre-paint\stain phase. I added support brackets for the three center rails which are 1½ x 2½. The 14 slats are 3 inches wide and 7/8 thick, plenty of support and it looks great.

Frame assembled and support rails in.

All 14 slats in place.

Another look, and it looks great.

New Bed

 I can't believe it's been over 3 1/2 years since I made anything worth posting on this site, time for a post. We have been thinking about a new bed for a while, the one we have I made in '96 in an old shed with had tools and some power tools. Things are a bit different today with the shop I have now. I still have some work ahead of me but I wanted to show how things are going. I am using old pine boards I got this fall for a Gentlemen who isn't doing much woodworking anymore and was willing to let these treasures go. I started with rough cut 1 x12 x8 foot long pine boards, I had to dress about 16 of them to find enough clear pine for the head and foot boards, there was a bit of knotty pine in there. So I dressed the lumber, cut to rough dimensions, then to finished dimensions. I had a bit of glue up to do for the headboard, legs, top rails, side rails and support boards for the slats. Oh did I mention this will have slats and only a mattress, no box spring. Here is how it's going, so far.

Here is the rough cut lumber I started with.

After the first run through the planner,
 I got 7 bags of shavings

Cut to size and 4 more bags of shavings.

The legs are glued up, these are the top rails.

Side rails glued up, a little clean up required.

Dry run of the legs and rails.

Mortis attached for the drill press set up.

Footboard dry fit, now to cut the top rail.

Headboard dry fit done.

One more dry fit, it looks great,
now to tapper the legs.

The Next Step

The next step in this adventure is for the hens to start laying eggs, and to help them I've made some nesting boxes. There are many ways to do this and different philosophy's regarding it as well. But we are keeping it simple. Just an opening to hold a plastic bin, in which they'll build a nest and lay some eggs. To keep as much room as possible in their side of the hen house, it was all designed to have just an opening in the one wall and have the body of the boxes in the storage side, and as you can see it all worked out.

Set nicely in the wall.

Three boxes for nests and a little ledge to help out.

We'll see if they need modification later.

It's Done Like Dinner

I don't mean the chickens are done, well not yet anyway, we'll have see how many hens we have and then the rest get "done". There are a few little things to do but in a nut shell it's done. They can get out into the compound and back into the house without being rounded up into a tot and carried back and forth. It's 16 x 8 and 7 feet high, lots of room and completely covered with 1 inch chicken wire, nice and safe. ReBecca did a great job with the stain, the colour is fantastic.

Looks great.

They're out and about.

Lots of room to run and spread their wings.

2nd Hen House Update

A quick update on the hen house shingle job, it's done, at least my part, the stain is next and that isn't my job. It does look good and I managed to line up all four sides if you are looking. Here is a look at the finished product.

East end view.

North side view.

One corner look.

It does look good.

Hen House Update

I've done a bit more work on the hen house, I've added home made louvers over the gable vents, and put screening on the under side. I've also put in another vent on the north side to help with ventilation. Yesterday I put on the cedar shingles on the west side and today I did the south side. The other two will be done shortly and then it will get stained and the compound to be built.

West view vent cover

East view, vent  cover added.

North side vent.

North side with shingles.

South side looks great as well.

A look at them both.