Shopsmith Forums

I'm making a Shaker style bed out of fir. I've glued up the headboard. The final dimension - 24" X 60". What would be the best way to attach this headboard to the two bedposts? I've thought it should be mortise/tenon. But, then, I've been thinking... It won't be hard to make a mortise in the posts. However, isn't it going to be a bit difficult to make the tenon on the headboard? I was planning on doing a one inch tenon on each end. Is it going to be tough to make a dado on the shopsmith table saw with a dado cutter? I've never done one this big before. Or, should I try to use a router with a big bit in it, making multiple passes over each end? Please give me some advice on this.

Thank you!

Ray I have done several of these in the past and I always make the mortise in the post the same thickness as the head board. I make the mortise 1 1/2 inches deep and pinning it from the back side makes it really strong. You do have to have a really clean mortise but it saves from having to make shoulders on the tenons. I will take a picture of one in my guest room and post it later today.

Good luck! This will be a fun project.

You don't really need to make tenons on the headboard. Instead, you can mortise the headboard also and use a "loose" or floating tenon. Simply plane a board (preferably quartersawn) to the thickness of your first mortise, make another mortise of the same size on the headboard - cut the planed board to the right size and insert, with glue, into both mortises. You can also peg if desired.

Kind of sounds like a project I'm the middle of now. I'm taking a queen size 4 poster bed and making it into a king size. The back panel for the headboard is 1" thick but the mortise holes are 3/4". I took a piece of 1/4" ply and attached a piece of straight wood to act as a guide for my router. I put the biggest diameter router bit I have into the router and run it down the jig to trim the edge. Put it onto the back of the panel and clamp it down, set your depth and trim the back side of the tenon. I then used a shoulder plane to fine tune the tenon.

4 tenons took about 2-5 minutes each to cut and size. Very simple and easy to do. Let me know if you have any questions.

Paul

greenhornet wrote:I'm making a Shaker style bed out of fir. I've glued up the headboard. The final dimension - 24" X 60". What would be the best way to attach this headboard to the two bedposts? I've thought it should be mortise/tenon. But, then, I've been thinking... It won't be hard to make a mortise in the posts. However, isn't it going to be a bit difficult to make the tenon on the headboard? I was planning on doing a one inch tenon on each end. Is it going to be tough to make a dado on the shopsmith table saw with a dado cutter? I've never done one this big before. Or, should I try to use a router with a big bit in it, making multiple passes over each end? Please give me some advice on this.

Thank you!

as stated above, it is really a job for a sraight edge and a router.