The Baby Bunk: The Epic Conclusion

During this project, I have noticed that this whole undertaking has been a kind of allegory of the soul. When God gives you a mission and you have no clue what to do or where to start, yet because it is God's will, it comes to fruition. At first you don't want to step outside your door; you are paralyzed in not knowing what is to come or what to do. Yet you do it anyway; you step with one foot forward and go, trusting in Divine Providence. As your journey progresses, you probably stumble along the way; you may even stray completely from what you were supposed to be doing. But with "God's will be done", He can take those stray paths and work them into His overall design; inevitably helping you, forming you into the person you are supposed to be (though it may take a little bit longer to get to where you are going). Bottom line, if there is trust in a plan that happens to be God's, as long as you focus on Him, the plan can't help but manifest itself.

For example, I would be working and then all of the sudden I would do something royally stupid which at first thought is deemed irreversible and completely damning. Instead of cursing my ineptitude, I walk away from the project and come back later with fresh eyes. I then realize that "eh, it's not so bad...actually I can probably exploit this!" And just like that the project continues.

We have heard many times that God doesn't call the equipped, rather He equips the called. Well, I feel that this is relevant to me. Granted, I am not saying I am anything special that I have been given some gift of woodworking (a wood-whisperer perhaps?). But rather I just think St. Joseph doesn't want my child to die from my horrible contraptions. Whatever the reason is, I continue with the intent to do my best and not worry about the bumps along the way. 

So regardless of whether it is a preternatural gift of carpentry, Divine assistance, or it is just a fool's dumb luck, it is still unusually gratifying to finish something like this and have it even remotely resemble your original plans. 

So where are we? Oh yes final assembly!

Now, remember in the last entry when I had to change some things because the bed top wasn't wide enough? The bed-top wasn't wide enough to cover the entire width of the leg-base. So to fix that I dropped the back down and that perfectly (oddly enough) filled the space I needed. The problem was I didn't account for the loss of height in the back (about 3/4 inch) when I cut the sides. 

So I ended up with this:

This revelation is of course after I had already drilled the dowel joiner holes in the bottom of the side pieces. I had to cut the sides down and potentially loose the holes (drilling holes with my [not-so perfect] drill guide is a pain in the tukhus). Oh well. 

What I needed now was a table saw....I didn't have one. 

I then decided to ring my good friend Freddie, who having the Eldorado of tools, to see if he could give me a hand. 

We proceeded to shave the required amount off of each side and then he helped me with his handy-dandy dowel-drill-rig-a-jig by drilling nice dowel holes all around. Granted I could have done this myself, but it would have taken a lot more time and perspiration than just having Freddie give me a hand. 

(Freddie is a good man.)

Now back in my shop, I proceed to bond some of this stuff together.

Buyer-beware: Never buy cheap clamps. I bought two gray cheap-o clamps from Menards and one of the clamps' threads completely stripped.

 *shakes fist* 

Best to get the real deal the first time around. 

So I did that with both sides and then I proceeded to throw on the back....and then came the realization that I didn't have nearly enough clamps for the job...so naturally I borrowed a few from Freddie.

(Have I mentioned that Freddie is a good man?)

Wiping up excess glue saves a lot of swearing later (I hate sanding). 

Now that the bed is fully assembled, lets throw it all together!

Before I stained and poly'd it, I decided to give it a test run. I noticed that with my wife on the bed it drove the nose of the bunk downward making the bunk top off level. To remedy this I decided to make some lifts on the end of the rungs so as to tilt the nose back up. 

I cut 4 scrap pieces to size and glued them to each end of the rungs.

I then cut them to shape with my bandsaw:

...sanded them nice and smooth...

...and then stained and poly'd them. 

I then proceeded to stain and poly the rest of the bunk. 

(cue presentation music: start it at 2:18) 

And without further ado, I give you The Baby Bunk!

And here it is (or will be) in its natural habitat: (the bumpers made by my lovely wife!)

The stress test: Well I couldn't find the dog, so we used Phil instead.

View from the underside.

Well there you have it. 

Thank you all for reading! 

The next project will be building blocks. Should be fun.

Pax

NPM

St Joseph pray for us!