Introduction and projects for the upcoming baby

[fstmatt]

Hello everyone - a quick introduction and a post about my two most recent projects:

My name is Matt, and I'm a amatuer woodworker in Albuquerque, NM. I'm blessed to have a wife that is patient enough to let me play in the shop as much as I do - after the surprise we encountered this summer (that she is pregnant) she actually encouraged to take on two big projects: a crib and a changing table.

The crib was based on the 3 in 1 crib design sold by Rockler. While I am pleased with the finished product I cannot express enough frustration with the plans. Anyone who is considering building their own crib should bypass these plans completely. Not only were they poorly written/drawn, but in some cases incorrect and misleading. Thankfully I was only working with poplar, which is relatively inexpensive, because I ruined some of my stock by blinding following their "instructions". (Not that loosing several boards is ever a good thing)

The crib is painted poplar with stained alder trim. My wife liked the look of similar looking pieces from Babys 'R Us, although I generally prefer a wood finish. There are two significant deviations from the Rockler plan. 1) the slats are joined to the rails using square mortise and tenon joints instead of circular, and 2) I added some braces where the ends bolt to the front and back. I'm really amazed that the plan called for round tenons. Having not had any children yet I am hardly an expert, but I would imagine that a year or more of a child grabbing, pullling, yanking, etc - the glue would eventually give and the slat would then rotate freely. This could be dangerous I would think, allowing appendages to become stuck. So I purchased a mortising attachement for my drill press and cut square mortises and tenons. I added the braces because after assembly, the crib wobbled significantly. Although they can't be seen in the attached photo, I have more up on my picassa at

https://picasaweb.google.com/fstmatt/November282011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

The paint is Sherwin-Williams oil based paint. Other than painting a few rooms, I've never done any serious painting before. I certainly learned a few good lessons, the least of which was spend the extra $ on good paint and brushes. I was happy with the S-W paint (once it was thinned adequately with penetrol) but the S-W primer did not flow out at all and was not user friendly. I ended using Klutz spray primer for most of the crib and changing table. I was hemmed and hawed about using oil based paint where an infant would be living. My final choice was based on oil paints durability and cleanability, once it has had adequate time to cure and off-gas. Since I still have 3 or so months to go, I am not overly concerned with VOCs. The trim is stained alder with a shellac finish.

The changing table design was based loosely on some pictures I found on the internet, although I came up with the details myself using sketch-up. (side note: After this project, I'm a huge fan of sketch-up!). I'd love to say that after ditching the store-bought plans for my custom made ones, that the changing table was without mistakes of any sort. I'd be lying though. But at least the mistakes were mine and I was able to find adequate if not creative workarounds.

Probably the biggest mistake I made was in dimentioning the corner posts. The rails attached to the posts with mortise and tenons (did I mention I love my new drill press attachement?) but the tenons intersected, leaving a narrow floating piece on the vertical post. Further complicating this was the rear was supposed to have rabets to attach the back panel to. Instead of half-lapping or morise/tenoning the rear stiles, I had to use pocket screws into the corner rail. Once everything was assembled, the thing is solid like a tank. But there was a point where I was afraid I'd have to start all over.

I used the same paint for the changing table. The top is stained alder. I started with a few coats of shellace, but had some issues getting to flow out smooth (old shellac, poor technique?) so I lightly sanded to shellac down and put down several coats of spray laquer.

These have both been exiting projects with lots of lessons learned. Unfortunately, I found this site after starting the crib. From the confidence I gained from Marc's video's and few other viewer projects (Ikie's crib - very nice!) I would have done things much differently if I were to do it again. But I guess that's part of the exitement in being an amatuer woodworker, right?

[mrbutton]

Both look great. In spite of what people say, it's the finished product that counts.

[ryandetzel]

Ill be doing this very soon and would love to hear what you would do differently in more detail. looks great, was it worth it?

[fstmatt]

Thanks! It was definately worth the effort - like I said, it was definately a learning process but that's kinda the point, right?

What I'd do different on the crib:

1) Straight or tapered slats instead of shaped. While the shaped slats look pretty, they are a PITA to mill all 54 of them, not to mention sand, paint, and prime. I also think that a 1 - 2" slat glued into a mortise would make the crib much more solid than the ~ 1/2" tenon I was dealing with. If you look at my pictures on picassa, you see that for every slat I had to cut the cheeks and chisel the ends to match the curve of the rail it was fitting into - work that could be spent painting the nursery

2) I've seen where a single mortise was cut along the rails, with the slats glued into the mortise and spacers made from scrap glued in between the slats (http://thewoodwhisperer.com/ikies-crib/ uses this method). Much easier/quicker, and I presumre sturdier.

3) I would use thicker stock, particularly for the corners. As I built it, everything was 4/4 planed to 3/4". Part of it is asthetics, but also functionally I I think it would be sturdier.

4) I would ditch the European style furniture fasteners. The point in using them was to allow for conversion to a toddler bed and them ultimately to a twin bed. The problem is that they are no substitute for a well built glue & screw joint of some sort. Toddler beds (depending on which book you read on which day) aren't necessary, and I'll probably end up building a proper bed frame when the time comes. The only thing that the current fasteners allow is for disassembly and reassembly.

5) I'm not sure what I would do differently for the painting process, but the way I did it wasn't efficient at all. I mentioned above the problems I had with S-W primer, which led to rattle can spraying Kilz primer. The spray primer works good, but is prohibitively expensive. In the interest of full disclosure however, I must mention that I HATE painting. I'll wipe boiled linseed all day long, but I don't seem to have enough patience to paint.

6) I scored a metal spring/mattress frame from an old drop side crib that could not be sold or used. While this makes the crib look good, I would build a wooden frame - again, all in the interest of making the crib more sturdy.

While both projects were challenging, it was definately worth it. I can't help but feel that my versions are better than the store-bought versions, and as my wife points out I know there isn't any lead based paint involved!