Antique bed post restoration

[holmqer]

Whilst visiting family for the holidays, I noticed that the civil war vintage bed that I am sleeping on has had some of the legs break off somewhere in the distant past. Where the legs are broken it is now sitting on blocks.

A pair of beds were made in Louisville Kentucky around the civil war, and have been passed down in our family ever since.

I would like to turn some replacement legs that would match the surviving legs.

Unfortunately the wood is painted and I can't tell what wood was originally used.

What would be a reasonable wood to use when I get back home next year to try and duplicate the missing legs so that we can restore the beds to better condition?

Additionally someone drilled the legs and put in modern swivel casters and now the existing legs are splitting, so I suspect that I shall have to make a complete set of legs for both beds.

I believe that cutting the bed posts off the fillet below the rails and attaching a replacement leg piece is a better option then attempting to turn an entire bed post.

 

[Brewmeister35]

Sounds like a neat project. If it were me, I'd strip it and see what type of wood it is first. Even if there's just a little piece you can strip to try to identify it. Keeping the wood the same type will keep the integrity you are looking for.

 

[Gary Max]

Heck I am just 2 hours south of Louisville Ky---bring it by and we will see what you got.

 

[holmqer]

Unfortunately, I am far from home at the moment, and nowhere near Loiusville. The beds were a gift to my great grandfather who was living in Louisville at the time. The beds are now in Southern California where I will be for several weeks. I plan to take some measurements and return home to frigid New England in January and will try to make replicas there.

I examined the bed and found a spot on one of the posts where the paint was badly chipped. Anyone able to identify the wood from this photo?

 

[Randy_]

That bed might have some value as an antique. Sometimes restorative work can decrease the value of a piece. You might want to have someone with a knowledge of antique furniture look at it first to be sure your work would not be counterproductive.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

True, but I think that with legs broken off and the rest drilled for casters and splitting from this hack; it is going to fall under the "not likely" category for collectibles.

As for the wood, maybe old growth pine? It may have the brownish look from the paint. Watch that paint too, there is a very good chance that its lead based. Send it to China to be stripped; maybe someone on the new pen site over there would have a good method of dealing with lead paint in consumer goods? [}]

 

[DCBluesman]

Quite possibly longleaf pine (aka southern yellow pine).

 

[alamocdc]

Matching the wood is nice, but is only important if the wood is going to be stained, or left natural. If it's painted, it won't really matter, but I'd use a good hard wood for the replacements.

You didn't really ask about this, but the real problem you will run into is using a strong enough joint between the two pieces. End grain to end grain is not a very strong glue joint (or any other for that matter). Dowels would work, but mortise and tenon would be even better. Since these will be turnings, the easiest M&T joints to make would be round. Turn a tenon on the top of the replacement leg... I'd use one at least 2" long and about 1/3 to 1/2 the diameter of the post. Then drill a corresponding socket (mortise) on the bottom of the remainder of the original bed post. This should give you a joint strong enough to for the bed.

 

[holmqer]

Thanks for all the good advice.

My aunt who used these beds as a child 75 years ago says the beds were painted then, and that they have never been repainted, so they probably do have lead based paint.

I had not really given much thought to the joint, and the round mortice and tenon idea is an excellent one.

We do not really expect these beds to have any collectable value, they are of more sentimental value to us than anything, and we want to ensure that they will continue to be used for generations to come. The current level of damage has inspired me to try and effect some repairs.

As I look at the wood grain with a fresh mind in the morning, it seems like the grain runs perpendicular to the post, not parallel. Am I just imagining this? These posts are 5 feet (2.2 m) long.

 

[alamocdc]

What you are actually looking at is the growth rings. If you look at the grain on the end of a board, you'll see a similar pattern. The actual grain runs the length of the post. It just wouldn't be strong enough corss grained and would have broken long, long ago.

 

[great12b4ever]

I wonder if the wood could be Kentucky coffee tree wood. I think that has a similar ring pattern from what I can see of it and the coloring is fairly close. That tree was used a lot during the mid-1800, especially in the Kentucky area.

Rob

 

[holmqer]

The Kentucky coffee tree wood is an interesting notion as we had Kentucky coffee trees in the yard back in Louisville. My aunt just showed me some newspaper clippings from The Sunday Herald Post in 1930 where the beds are displayed in a beautiful homes of Louisville article.

It looks like I can buy this type of wood on ebay...

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

IMHO, if you don't know what you are doing, you could really mess up this family heirloom. If you don't know which way the grain is going in a bed post than I'm going to assume this is the case. Sorry to be so blunt.

If the legs are splitting from the hole drilled for the casters there are better ways to do repairs. Simple solution (what out really seeing the problem) would be to drill the holes slightly larger and glue in dowels. If the legs are badly cracked you may need to resort to other options.

 

[holmqer]

The dowel solution for the slightly cracked legs seems an excellent idea.

I knew the grain should go parallel with the post, but had a momentary mental lapse when I looked at the growth rings.

Currently the folks out here just saw the leg stumps square when they break off and go to home depot to buy any round post of the right diameter and screw it into the bed post. If I can turn some matching legs for them to have on hand for the two legs that need replacement and any other legs the break off, I feel that I am ahead of where they would goif left to themselves.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Originally posted by holmqer

but had a momentary mental lapse

I've had days like that too