Customer Reviews

Beds

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am in the process of finishing up the bed shown on the cover of this book. It is the first bed and biggest project I have ever made since I have a samll shop and limited tools. It turns out beautifully that even surprises myself. Jeff Miller gives detailed instructions, design and material list that makes the project a easy task. I happen to have a mortise machine that makes the mortises for the slats much easier and nicer. Also, after I visited a local store, I easily changed dimensions of the bed to suit personal taste. I really enjoyed making this bed.

"BEDS" by Jeff Miller provides an indepth look at the design and construction of nine beds, ranging from beginner to advanced skill levels. Complete cut lists for all of the projects are provided with detailed drawings and descriptions for joinery, technique and several construction options. Dozens of color photographs add to the readers understanding of each bed project and are accompanied by a detailed step-by-step description for building.

Many of the projects are also accompanied by detailed drawings and instructions for making jigs to help the user with difficult cutting, routing and shaping - a detail often overlooked by other books like this.

Jeff's designs represent well thought out variations on several classic bed designs and place an emphasis on clean lines and proportions, solid construction and attention to detail.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in buiilding their own bed, or to simply learn about what goes into the design and construction of fine handcrafted furniture.

An excellent book on bed construction. I built the pencil post bed that Jeff has in his book and the plans and advise were easy to follow. It came out looking great!

A good book for the beginner to the experienced woodworker. Excellent color pictures and instructions for each type of bed.

I recommend it highly to anyone who is going to think about building or commissioning a bed project.

Thanks Jeff if you read this!

This book gave me the confidence to build a bed. I chose Jeff's most basic design and it went smoothly. I would not say this book is for the complete novice however. I had oversight from an experienced woodworker. Nevertheless, Jeff is a good writer with nice pictures. And opinions. The great thing about Tauton Press books is that they get experts to share their insights and opinions that you simply do not get from people like Time-Life

The projects range in style, and they are all pleasing.

The whole series of these book's (desks, bookcase, tables, beds) is a must for all woodworkers.

I built the Pencil Post Bed out of this book and will be working on another of the bed projects soon. I like the paperback style easy to read and comfortable to work with. The is a good mix of projects in these books some high end and some fairly basic, good detail on techniques and alternative constructive methods. Pictures are for the most part good. Only drawback in some places I'd like to see a bit more explanation in some places.

I got this book because I want to build the platform bed. The instructions are great and easy to understand.

Definitely recommend. Just one thing is the tools needed to make some beds are expensive and big.

I bought this a few weeks ago and am working on building one of the designs in it. If terms and tools like router table, stacked dado blade, rabbit, mortise, tenon, "mill up a board," or "glue up a plank" are already in your shop and lexicon, then you need no other book but this to make some really outstanding beds. If not, do what I did and buy some basic woodworking books as well. I have done a lot of basic carpentry such as building sheds, decks, railings and whatnot for decades, but, other than some refinishing now and then, not indoor furniture-class work. With that background I found I was stumped at a fair number of terms or bits of advice that, I assume, experienced furniture makers are entirely familiar with. That said, I am hard at work on one of the more unique designs in the book and thrilled at the quality of design and instruction (though in my case supplemented with other, more basic books).

However, even with the above caveat unaddressed, I would still give the book a fifth star if it had the following: 1) More specific suggestion for how to scale up dimensions for the thicker mattresses and box springs on the market today (the bed design I am working with assumes a 6 to 8 inch thick mattress, which is very thin for the mattresses, much less even a low profile box spring as well, of the type one might be inclined to buy for such a nice bed in the first place). So I am left with guessing how best to hide more than 10 inches of additional mattress and box spring height in an appealing manner (e.g., how much should I attempt to gain by making taller posts, versus lowering the rails, versus gluing up a wider headboard plank, versus higher placement of a same-size plank -- I'd love an expert's suggestion rather than my own poor guess at what solutions will still be pleasing to eye). 2) With all the author's expertise, I'd love some basic suggestions on types of wood beyond the observation that maple is good for slats on wider beds. 3) Include a list of basic shop tools one will need (or prefer to have). 4) Give a few references for neophytes about good books on where one can learn some basic skills that are assumed.

If you already have a full shop set up, you can make a beautiful bed very inexpensively with this book. If you are missing some of the more expensive tools needed, as I was, you can still make a bed for about the cost of buying a quality one already made, but yours will likely be better made and, when you are done, you'll have more shop machinery and skills for future projects as well.

Overall, if you are already skilled in furniture making, or simply ready to take the next step to developing that skill, this seems like a great set of instructions with a range of elegant designs to choose from.

I recently built the craftsman style bed shown on the cover of Miller's book. I selected that particular design because it looked like one of the easier beds included in the book. I found Miller's explanations, illustrations and descriptions were very helpful and well presented. He provides good discussions on a number of different jigs that are required for the construction of the bed. The discussion of the jigs was very clear and the jigs performed their intended function very well. This bed involved several construction techniques I had not previously utilized including making dentil moulding, the creation of T-slots for the installation of bed bolts and curves on the footboard and head boards as well as the "wings." Miller's explanation of how to perform these functions was very good for someone who has never before undertaken such efforts. I was extremely pleased with the final product and never would have been able to achieve it without this book.
Some of the other beds in the book appear to be much more challenging but if the written explanation for such beds approachs that of the craftsman style bed, they may be doable.

I thought this was a great book for a begineer to get the feel for techique and style, with lots of illustrations and photos .

Awesome book. This book gave me everything I need to build a bed for my wife. I found a design I liked at a store and just used this book to build it, with some modifications of my own. I turned out great!! Thanks a lot!! ([...])