My first FOG post

[JHanna1079]

Well, here goes! I have been a FOG member for a couple months now and figured it was time to start doing my part.....finally. I would say I am a hobbyist woodworker at best but I am familiar with building things as I framed and built houses growing up for summer jobs with my uncles construction company. I am finally getting to a point in life where I can start having some fun and spending some time on things I want to do......when the LOML permits [laughing]! My wife and I recently were blessed and fortunate enough to welcome a new baby boy to our family, and in preparation for that I decided I was going to build his crib. This was really my first real wordworking project so it was a blast. I have since completed a few more, but those are for future posts!

That being said....I happened to discover FESTOOL while buying a couple tools for the project.........now I'm hooked. On this project I bought a TS-55 and a Domino to help, and boy did they. Here are some pictures start to finish (Minus the finish as I haven't had time to stain it yet). The crib is a convertable and will grow with him from a crib, to a toddler bed, to a full size bed. I'm hoping, barring my construction methods holding up, that it will last him 10-15 years. In retrospect I definitely would have done a few things differently, such as using a router for the mortise holes for the rails for sure! The way I did it with the Drill press in the end delivered a great result, but sheesh it took forever! Some things you just have to learn the hard way. Other than that, the construction was all pretty straight forward. I didn't really have any plans persay, but I did a little reading on specs for distances between rails and desired heights since the mattress adjusts, for safety purposes. If it broke with the kid in it.....I doubt the wife would let me buy any more awesome green tools! From there I drew out a rough picture on paper what was in my head, guestimated board feet of material, and went to town. I ended up using a hard maple that I really liked a lot. I think all in all it turned out pretty well. Comments, criticisms, and anything else you might want to throw out there are all welcome!

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[peter halle]

J.,
[welcome] to the FOG!  Congratulations on your new addition to the family, and what a great first project!

 

[kfitzsimons]

Congrats on the new addition - baby that is. Usually it's congrats for the new addition of a Festool. Really nice first project too. Very appropriate. My wife and I met our two kids (26 adn 23 now) for happy hour and $1 tacos last night and I was thinking while there, that it was such an adventure raising our kids and it goes so fast. Doesn't seem that way at the time, but looking back, time really does fly. Enjoy the journey!

 

[Steve R]

Okay....but once the kid is grown how many systaines will it hold??

Nice job!  [welcome]

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Nice work, J. and  [welcome] to the forum!

 

[vidkid26]

Welcome to the group.  [welcome]

That is a beautiful crib that will be passed down for generations I'm sure

 

[Jesse Cloud]

That's a beaut!  Great crib and welcome to the forum!  Now you need some more festools so you can make the kid some toys, a kid's chair, desk, etc.

 

[JHanna1079]

Appreciate all the warm welcomes so far! There will be many more festool products to come, including a Kapex very soon to replace that green and black saw in the first picture. It has been a great saw, but after playing with the Kapex I have found yet another Festool I just have to have.

 

[dsweetser]

Welcome. Very nice project..

 

[nclemmons]

Nice project J.  And welcome to the FOG. 

Curious on the crib - does it knock down for moving?

Thanks for sharing.

neil

 

[dltflt]

Welcome to FOG and the slippery slope.  Very nice first project.

 

[JHanna1079]

Nice project J.  And welcome to the FOG. 

Curious on the crib - does it knock down for moving?

Thanks for sharing.

neil

Neil,
The sides are removable so the bed can grow with him. If you look at the final two pictures you can see how the side rails were attached. There are three connecting bolts in either end of the side rails that mate to preset insert nuts on the front and rear posts. I wanted to be totally screw/boltless, but it was the only way I could come up with that would support the weight and forces acting on the joints as well as have the transitionality I needed. If you would like closer pictures I can take some and post them.

Once he transitions into being a toddler the crib will have a different front portion that will mount to the sides, It will only be 3/4 of the length of the mattress so he can get in and out of bed himself but still not be able to roll out of bed. Once he progresses a little farther the front will be completely removed and it will turn in to more or less a day bed. As he grows out of that stage, the orginal front piece of the crib will be reattached to the bed and the side rails will be removed and replaced with full size bed rails converting it in to a regular full size bed with the head board and foot board. We will just have to get a new full size mattress at that point, and should be good to go. The holes from the insert nuts on the front and back rail will be plugged with some matching maple pieces.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

How do you know you're going to do all this transitioning within one crib?  What if you have another baby?  Does it turn into a bunk bed or is one child outta luck?  [big grin]

 

[JHanna1079]

How do you know you're going to do all this transitioning within one crib?  What if you have another baby?  Does it turn into a bunk bed or is one child outta luck?  [big grin]

It is built to transition, but there is nothing saying our little guy wont do some damage to it. Especially if he is anything like I was as a kid. I just tried to plan ahead and think a little forward. If it holds up great, if not....just another new project! If we have another it will have its own room so no worries on the bunk beds. As far as being outta luck goes, I think it's a great excuse to make some improvements to the original as well as to purchase some must have tools. Maybe a Kapex, MFT-3,or the soon to be arriving T18+3 all sound like things that will make the next one much easier and faster to complete. At least thats hopefully what my wife will understand. Don't you agree [big grin]!!

 

[kdzito]

J.,

Congrats on the new family member.  Also, your crib is very nice.  Welcome to the FOG.

Kurt

 

[GruntSgt]

First [welcome], second [thumbs up], third I'm borrowing this as I have my first grandchild (girl)  [thanks]son due in August. Great timing on this post.

 

[JHanna1079]

First [welcome], second [thumbs up], third I'm borrowing this as I have my first grandchild (girl)  [thanks]son due in August. Great timing on this post.

Hopefully you'll have as much fun making yours as I did with mine. I Really enjoyed it and it's awesome to see my son in it when he wakes up! If you have any questions feel free to let me know.

 

[honeydoman]

hanna,  nice job!  and thanks for sharing and taking the pictures I always love to see other members project.  do you have a baby to put in it ?  lol  of course you do..

 

[JHanna1079]

hanna,  nice job!  and thanks for sharing and taking the pictures I always love to see other members project.  do you have a baby to put in it ?  lol  of course you do..

Kreg, thanks for the compliment. I have seen and appreciated a lot of the posts you have put on here so it is truly welcomed. Your video's have been pretty awesome as well. The baby is doing well and has been sleeping in it for the past 6 1/2 months. Here is what he looked like when we told him he would be sleeping in a crib his dad built him.

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