DIY Bamboo Bunk Bed
 

I built a bunk bed for my boys back when they were little. They eventually grew out of it and the bed was disassembled and stored for a long time. Somehow, it came up in conversation with my friend T, so I lashed it to the top of my little car and took it to his house.

With the help of his two young boys, the perfect choice for a bed like this, we reassembled it. These aren't my normal construction journal pictures, but they show how the bed goes together. The creation of the bed was done mostly with hand tools, and all of it is hand made. It goes together like a puzzle.

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The boys help me unpack the poles and posts.

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The headboard went together first, two stretchers on the bottom, three on the top. Then the long poles were inserted into the holes, again two on the bottom and three on the top on each side.

I like that a lot. What holds the mattress up?

You know I betcha what would stop this from being offered as a product today...



...lawyers

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Now the footboard is together and I'm lining up the long poles so the footboard can be slid onto them. This has to happen with all ten poles at once. It's a LOT harder to do than it looks. Remember the handmade part? Yeah... I'm not known for my precision work. And, this material is not uniform. The poles are not perfectly straight, and the holes I made are not perfectly circular, nor uniform, nor concentric. I trimmed them down a little to make something of a tenon and the hole is only big enough for the tenon and not the step up to the full diameter of the poles.

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All the poles are in the inboard holes, and now I'm pleading, arguing, begging, threatening, etc the poles to slip into the outboard holes. This was eventually successful, but I did struggle.

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Here all the poles are through all the holes. Not all the way, not drawn up snug, but in. The rest is just brute force.

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T and his younger son were so, *so* excited (so was his older son, shown in a different pic). Just a happy shot!

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Other happy son!

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Happy Dad and a preview of my brute force tool.

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I keep a bagful of these ratcheting tie down straps in the car. Here they're being used as comealongs. One strap alone is not long enough to pull the posts together so I used two hooked together after shortening one by several feet.

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To keep from racking this parallelogram too much I tried to tighten up whole sides all at once. One strap pair on the top of the post was enough for all three poles, but it doesn't draw the bottom of the posts together. If you look carefully, you can just see a peek of the red from the bottom straps.

This procedure was repeated on all sides in turn. It was pretty tedious, there was a lot of creaking and groaning, but by the end it was pretty tight.

Killer! I bet those boys love that bed.

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glatt, you asked what holds the mattress up. The answer is the mattress (when there is one) is held up by these platforms. I took fairly thin walled poles and split them into strips about an inch wide, lots of them. Then I took another medium sized pole and split it into halves. I then sewed the strips onto the half poles with the green line you see here. I left the half poles a little long, and I staggered the distance between them so the top surface of strips could meet flush, making a nice platform for the mattress.

If you look carefully at the upper left hand corner of this picture, you can see where I notched the platform to fit around the pole. And on the right hand side of the picture you can see how the far side of the platform half is cut straight, but the near side has each split rounded off.

What you can't really see in this picture is the three long thick walled poles that run the length of the bed spaced evenly between the posts and stretchers upon which the platforms rest. You can see the ends of two of these poles at the far left of the picture, and now that you see those, you can kind of see the poles through the very narrow gaps between the splits.

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Here is T testing out the platform. It turns out we had them mismatched. If you look at the outboard edge, you see there's a big difference in the length of the rounded ends. The shorter one belongs on the bottom and it has a matching half. The longer pair go on top. The shorter ones go on the bottom because it's possible to sit on the edge of the bed and the longer ones would poke you in the back of the legs. Naturally, this isn't a problem for the top platform. T's Mom supervised happily.

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Ok, here's a really good picture of the support system for the platforms. You can also see much more detail of the sewing I did to secure the splits to the half poles. Also on display are the corner notches. Can you see how the mattress will be held in place by the top stretcher on the bottom bunk? And how it would likely protrude above the stretcher? That's so you can sit on the side of the bed. The top is the same way, EXCEPT, there's a third stretcher that serves as a guardrail to keep the sleeper from rolling out of bed.

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Two happy campers, who are *really* excited about bedtime! Notice the rounded edges all match up now, the corner notches fit around the posts, etc.

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I told you mattresses were optional. Sleeping bags (pillows came later) were installed before we were even finished.

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The big finale! I brought the ladder out (you can't have a freakin bunk bed without a ladder, can you?) and climbed up first. I bounced and rolled and jumped around as a demonstration that the bed was strong enough to hold my weight. That was enough for the boys! They were up the ladder in a flash, Dad too. This is our victory picture.

Nice.

How long did it take you to make that thing initially?

Thanks Pete.

Hm.. was a long time ago.... not long.. the design is simple. Probably a couple weeks. there was a lot of gradual refinement as I put it together. Initially, it was wider. So, I narrowed it, you can see the evidence of this by the truncated splits on the far side of the platforms. And many times I'd have it together, then couldn't get a pole to come all the way through, so back apart, trim the tenon or the hole or both, then back together.

The sewing took a long time. That is a lot of sewing. And the ladder was a bit of a project too. I got a new tool out of it, a wad cutter punch, which I used to make my own dowels. The bamboo is the ultimate straight grained material as you might expect. I could cut dowels easily. I pinned the end of each rung on the ladder with two dowels in addition to sewing (lashing really, these were much shorter lengths of line) them to the vertical poles. Notice that I staggered the double rung sections so that when the ladder is leaned against the bed the surface of the double rungs is basically horizontal.

Also not easily visible in the assembly here is that the ladder is zip tied to the top stretcher, and the platform supports are zip tied to the stretchers too.

I like that a lot. The platforms clearly took a lot of effort, but they look really good. I spent a lot of time as a kid staring up at the bottom of a top bunk, and this will be interesting to look at for whoever winds up in the lower bunk. Those lashings are nice and neat.

Thanks glatt.

I got the top bunk as a kid. One time we were horsing around and I bounced too hard, and dropped the top bunk down onto my brother below, trapping him between the beds. It was pretty painful, since the mattress supports were those metal "nets" with large rectangular openings, just ... wires like a springy fence section. He was bleeding and we got in trouble. Worth it though!

The bottom bunker was telling his brother how he intended to stealthily climb the ladder and then shake him awake. Ha ha. I said.. .hey, I have another suggestion. Climb up there and pretend to be your brother, pretend to be asleep. He did and when he was laying down, from the bottom bunk I started pounding hard on the bottom of the top bunk yelling TIME TO WAKE UP! WAKE UP WAKE UP!!!

Ah... good times. hehehe....

Awesome!

Asians,

Bamboo...?


:eyebrow:

Srsly, though. I'm super envious. My bunk bed was cedar...

From the lower bunk, I could press my feet up against the bottom of the top bunk, and straighten my knees. I would lift my brother, mattress and all, up about 6 inches and really startle him. When my older cousin visited once, he insisted on taking the top bunk, and I did it to him too. Completely freaked him right out.

Yeah.. good times.

In our caravan, (?travel trailer thingie), my sister got the top "hammock" bunk and I was so pissed about the unfairness of it I used to kick her butt all night. One night I kicked too hard and she and the metal pole that fitted in cups on the wall to form the edge of the hammock landed on me.

Nice bed, btw -the mattress supports look like they're laced to another long strip -is that right? Or do the roll up like Ikea mattress supports?

Awesome! I am flabbergasted as some folks' ingenuity.

thank you!

the mattress supports, the slats that are perpendicular to the long axis of teh bed, they're lashed to a semicircular half pole. it is quite rigid. the "panels", they're as strong and rigid as a tabletop in all axes.

That's just awesome V.

Want.

impressive.

Verry cool V

Very cool V! You are so handy!

My sis and I had bunk beds at the time they were both on the floor she carried me piggy back to throw me over her head onto the bed and I hit my forehead on the top of the post breaking my neck... :eek: yeah good times [/bunkbed memory]

what?!
you BROKE YOUR NECK goofin around on your bunk beds?

thanks all of you for your kind words and terrifying stories...

I had no idea that I had so much company with these childhood death traps.

So is there like a bamboo market out there or do you mail order or grow your own or what? Wow clumsy words.

I did, C7 and I was 7, my sis thought she killed me. :blush:

There used to be a bamboo lumber outfit at the south end of town. They're closed now, but I doubt it would be difficult to procure these materials again. When I bought the poles, bamboo wasn't nearly as popular as it is now. I've seen finished hardwood (ha. grass, people) modular flooring made from bamboo (like Pergo). And paper, I have even seen a pair of garden gloves.

I am growing some bamboo of my own now, thanks to a gift from my girlfriend. I posted some pictures around here somewhere....

the only species name I remember is Tam Vong. There were others with different structural strengths (no pun intended). The posts are not the same species as the poles. the poles are not the same species as the poles I split for the platforms.

I bought some poles from this guy, Bamboo Garderner, he's just a couple blocks from my house. this fellow is also just around the corner, but I have not visited him.

eta:

hahahah... this is the place I bought most of my poles from : Bamboo Hardwoods.

One person's gift can be another person's curse.

My boys sleep in bunk beds. I'm amazed they're both still alive.

My younger brother fell out of the top bunk of the bunks he shared with my older brother. My older brother about had a heart attack. He wasn't hurt, thank FSM. I think there were no rails because he was an older kid at the time.

Anyway, I can't resist posting, yet again, one of my favorite dance numbers:

Hello there RRRRRRRaven Welcome to the Cellar! :jig:

A long time ago in camp, not banned camp, we used to sleep in sleeping bags in a large tent type buildings with bunk beds. The gag that many kids would play was to tie the strings at the foot of the sleeping bags to the rails of the bunk beds and then "scare" the kids while sleeping... Still can't believe we didn't have any permanent or more serious injuries.

I will be sleeping in a rickety old bunk bed on Monday and Tuesday nights. Probably the top bunk.

I never shared a room until college. We totally went against the rules for using the bunk bed makers (had to request them) by having one bed on top against the wall and the other bed coming out from underneath at a 45 degree angle. Becky never did break my head open.

No bunk beds. No shared room. Only child. Thank :fsm:.

Well, there was this one time, in prison...

Thanks for the welcome Nirvana!

Welcome to the cellar, Rrrraven!

Lucky bastard, ours were pine... and that's when knots meant cheaper, not more expensive.:p:

V, nice job, design and execution.
The next one you make should have the poles graduated so they can be assembled in order, without sweat and naughty words.
You're right about bamboo being more common. Being grass, it's a greenies delight, sustainable as all hell.
My keyboad and mouse are bamboo, but don't mistake me for a greenie, I just liked the look. :lol:

I apologize for bumping...just several questions...


I'm starting a project for my kids, wanted to make some bunk beds.
I've already harvested more than enough and I'm in the process of drying the bamboo. Still though, I figure in the meantime I could get some engineering work done on them.

I've found some online that in general are very similar to what I'm aiming for.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_3S-3qIT7hro/Sb...nk%2520Bed.JPG

I have a lot of woodworking/general shop experience, but very limited bamboo experience aside from a few small tables/lamps/bunk beads like all these types [link removed], etc. Nothing that I had to trust to be load/play bearing!

Couple questions though.
As for the joints, I'm assuming bore them out with a hole saw and then use a barrel sander or something to get them dead on?

Are these joints just glued together? I'm not apposed to doing it that way, but it would be nice when it's all said and done if I could disassemble it for storage/moving in the future.

If I wanted to make it in a few pieces, and glue those together, what is my best bet to make joints that I can easily take apart? I was thinking about running a bolt or dowel through the entire joint, bolts would be ugly, and dowels would be too enticing for kids to mess with. Anyone have any suggestions for strong, aesthetically pleasing and detachable joints?

Also, would appreciate any tips/advice/pointers anyone wants to throw my way, aside from knowing I should probably let it dry thoroughly before I get cracking so my joints stay the dimensions I bore them out at I'm pretty lost.

I know I'll figure it out, but not too proud to ask for help beforehand. Would rather learn from pros than my own mistakes when I can.

Welcome to the Cellar but you are not allowed to post a link on your first few posts. This is to prevent spammers.

Have you seen this video making the rounds?

Remind me never to ask her for a cup of tea.

As a matter of fact, that *does* seem strangely familiar...

I know this guy, handy fella, built a bunk bed outta bamboo

Nice guy, bleeds a lot...