Bill Anderson, Bed Ensemble Reclaimed Silky Oak (Furniture)

Photo 1: Raw Material At a local demolition yard, I found some silky oak that had previously served as building rafters. Beneath the grey oxidation I knew I would find the rich honey coloured, shimmering grain that characterises this beautiful timber. Careful scanning with a metal detector revealed some lingering hardware and once removed the building process could Photo 2: Knockdown Joinery Bed assembly and disassembly needs to be simple with resulting rock-solid joints. Following Jeff Miller’s design (Beds, Taunton Press, 2000), twin mortise and tenons provide connection between the side rails, headboard and footboard. A threaded rod (12mm diameter by 150mm long) secured into a nut buried in the headboard joinery is passed through a hole in the side rail. A nut and shop-made washer clamp the joint together. To ensure the right tool will always be available at the right time, a custom spanner was manufactured. Embedded rare earth magnets fasten it to a recess in the bed frame. The reclaimed wood was scarred with nail holes which were filled with a two-part epoxy. Care was taken at the design stage to minimise the visual impact of these imperfections. At top-centre of this photo, two marks are seen, located out of harm’s way behind the mattress. These and others provide a clear reminder that the wood in this bed has served an earlier purpose. Photo 3: Bed The project was made for my son and his wife. My son’s favourite number is 14 so I made 28 vertical rails on the headboard and footboard – 14 for him and 14 for his wife. The number 32 is special for me; hence the rails are spaced at 32mm. Photo 4: Bedside table My daughter-in-law already had a low chest of drawers from her grandmother, also made from silky oak. The bedside tables were made to complement its design. Photo 5: Ensemble Osmo Polyx-Oil 3011 Gloss was used to finish the project, which meant the reclaimed silky oak was ready to serve again in its new form.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.