The Sleigh Bed: Part VII

Hi all,

Now that the sleigh bed was finished, it was time to do the staining and varnishing.
My wife Pauli handled all that.  After I finished the headboard assembly, I took the headboard assembly to the Bunny Mansion (our small art studio in the back yard) for the staining and varnishing.  Usually, we have used an oil based Watco sealer stain which penetrates very well but takes a long time to cure -- three days.  We wanted the sleigh bed to be done in time for a Christmas delivery so we looked at water based stains.  Our daughter Qaitlin picked out a stain plus dye combination that used a walnut base with a cinnamon dye added.  So while I worked on the tailboard assembly, Pauli started the staining.  Here is Pauli in her "staining" outfit:

The water based stain was a lot more difficult to use than the oil based Watco.  Pauli had to be quick about spreading the stain and wiping it smooth as it dried very fast.  So there was a tendency for the stain to show swirls and other patterns if Pauli wasn't careful.  But Pauli was and the only thing I really did was to help her by picking up the headboard assembly so that she could work on the other side.  These assemblies were big -- like 48" tall and 63.5" wide and being made of 2" thick ash very heavy.  So I did the heavy lifting whenever possible.  Water based stains when they dry raise a fuzz on the wood so it is important to lightly sand with 320 grit after the stain is applied.  Pauli made the stain by mixing 1 part Cinnamon to 3 parts walnut in a steel bucket which we could close up each day.  After the first application of the stain and the sanding, she then eyeballed rubbing on some additional cinnamon highlights.

She repeated this process on the bed rails which I had by this time brought into the bunny mansion too.
This is what the headboard assembly looked like:

and the bed rails looked like this:

Pauli then added three coats of satin varnish sanding between each coat.  After a week and a half, I finished the tailboard assembly, moved it into the Bunny Mansion and Pauli did the same thing to it.  When that was done, we moved the pieces into the house so I could add the finishing touches.  We assembled it in my home study.

Qait's mattress fits on top of cross slats which are covered with plywood that has been wrapped in batting and sheets.  The support slats looked like this:

Then the plywood is added:

And the batting and sheets:

The sleigh bed was now done and needed to be driven to Charleston, SC where our daughter lived.  It took awhile to pack it into the van -- we used every blanket and pillow we had!!-- but after a 4 hour drive it was installed in Qait's apartment.  This is what it looked like:  first, Dad and Qait

Then, the sleigh bed with the Queen of stain and varnish!

So a large project done!  And to put it all in perspective, here is the original pile of wood:

Then after a lot of work leaving this pile of scraps

once again, the finished project!

The next projects involve writing some stories, some software development and finishing up some technical books.  And some electronics!!