The Woodshop Shed

Crib for Granddaughter

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


I made this crib for my first grandchild. My daughter chose spindles instead of slats…ouch 52 turned spindles! I'll admit I was pretty “grumpy” about all the lathe work, but softened up about it once I saw pictures of my granddaughter in the crib. A Oneway center steady helped reduce vibrations on these long, thin spindles. Most of the turning was done with a roughing gouge and then smoothed up with a Veritas sanding block. I've got no pride in method and this seemed incredibly effective for me…The frame is cherry and the spindles are hard maple. The crib meets current federal standards and I added a third level that is 6” deeper than required (for potential future escape artists!) Adding 6” to the spindles made the turning more difficult, but it's nice to have a deeper option.The end assemblies have tenons at the top and bottom to better align the sides as the knockdown fasteners are tightened. The knockdown fasteners screw into threaded inserts. This is so much better than the old adjustable crib sides that are now banned. This design doesn't rack at all. I'm very pleased with the stability of the crib.Franklin liquid hide glue made for a drama-free glue-up of all the spindles to the frame. The slow set time gives plenty of time for assembly. The glue has an expiration date, but it's worth trying for complex assemblies.I used one coat of Tried and True varnish for the finish. This is supposedly a very safe finish, but I hate working with it and that's why I stopped at one coat. In hindsight, I should have used wipe on poly. It turned out though…a labor of love!

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