Antique bed, want to learn more

Good morning Forum members, I am a bit new to this so please forgive any learning curve I might have regarding format, or edict.



That said, I am restoring an antique bed for my son that was given to me some 45 years ago and in the process my interests have been peeked into learning a bit more about it's history, age and possible origin. I have done some modest internet research, but that has only left me wanting to learn more, and I have realised I would benefit from some experts. So here goes.

Facts that might be helpful to the knowledgeable:

The bed was sold at auction to my father in early to mid 1970's from Headley's Auction House in Winchester Virginia and my father always believed in to be walnut, however I have come to believe that it is actually mahogany. (Yes, as an expert cabinet maker I am having trouble distinguishing the wood due to age and patina, that and I have never worked with mahogany)

The bed appears to all be made from one source wood with the exception of the support rails for slats on the inside of the side rails, which appear to be yellow pine and attached with both hide glue and hand-cut nails. Also, the lower cross board on the headboard appears to be denser and heaver than all the other visible wood.

The four post are all slightly different from each other. Both in dimensions and in their turnings.

The backside of the headboard shows tool marks from hand planing and all of the lumber are of varying thickness.

The center sections of the head board was joined to the posts using rough cut mortise and tenon, while the foot board was joined with dowels.

The two side rails are 73" and are cut from one plank as indicated from the grain and tool marks. The tool marks on the inside of the side rails also suggest that it was cut on a saw mill with a 36inch circular saw blade.

The original hardware for connecting the side rails to the head and foot board have been replaced with cast iron, although I don't know when in its history and it appears that it originally might have had casters, or these too could have been added when the other hardware was replaced however these were never present during the time in my family.

The few remaining screws appear to be machined however the groves for the screw driver look hand cut although I am no expert.

The only other marking is the word "Single" written in pencil on the inside face of one of the side rails, which is what started me on my search.

Lastly, the bed required a custom mattress approximately 37"x73".

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

@verybrad @Ghopper1924 not @me

 

Pictures are not sufficient to evaluate. Based on this single picture, I would be inclined to say this is a 40s-50s colonial revival piece. However, your excellent description, leads me to believe that this could be much older. Some pics of these details are in order. A good clear pic of the wood in good light is also needed to identify the species.

 

Can you show how the rails are joined to footboard or headboard?

 

nice workshop....... time to clean the sawdust !!! LOL !!!!!

 

Would the size of the mattress it accommodates be a clue? If it is smaller than a standard twin, it's surely pre-50s?, although not necessarily older than earlier 20th? Just going by experience of having my mother's childhood bed frame shipped from her parent's home, only to find it would require modification to take a modern mattress. It definitely wasn't colonial era.

 

HA!! BEEN that "custom mattress" route too many times to want to remember, just 'cuz they're usually expensive!!!!! BUT, it goes with the territory!!! Nice looking bed, and WELCOME to ANTIQUERS, "DASSLER"!!!

 

Tend to agree although it could be a bit earlier, but early american? No, that can't be because i see no evidence of rope holes nor pegs on the rails which means it must be later than the 1860s when coil springs came out.

 

If it was an "early american" (1680-1780) bed, the support for the mattress would be rope, with wood pegs on top of the rails or holes drilled thru the rails. Either way there would be rope involved.
Like this

Or this

Naturally, the rope would stretch/sag over time and would need to be re-tightened

 

What Brad said. My sister has a mid-20th century bed that requires a custom mattress. From the photo alone I'd say 1940s-60s.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures.

 

i have a maple bedframe from my husbands grandparents house it is a 3/4 bed either have a mattress made to order or check on line. i bought a foam mattress from a site that supplies truckers with replcements for their cab beds. orders@mattressinsider.com Rvmattress 113 it is 3/4 april 2015.

 

Good Morning and thank you all for your feedback. I will try to answer and or provide additional information as best as I can.

For VeryBrad, here is a photo I shot as I was applying an oil finish without color or enhancement (it is called an NPO finish from Zweihorn).



Lara9797, First photo shows inside of rails (top to top) with yellow pine support removed (also shows saw blade marks which I measured to determine that it was a 36-38 inch saw mill that cut the lumber) due to deterioration of the wood from age and whatnot, (second photo) I milled out and replaced damaged wood with walnut so I could re-secure the hardware that has been on the bed since in my family. This is however not the original hardware. Third photo is of the posts, this too had to be milled so I could reset the locking plates. As you can see the original hardware was quite a bit larger than what I currently have. Again, the wood was damaged enough and the depth was somewhat inconsistent, to I carefully milled removing as little as possible and then glued in a new piece of walnut that was then milled to fit the current hardware.







Komokwa, Yes, I need to clean my shop.

Bronwen, The mattress from when I was a kid, was a latex foam that was roughly 37x73 inches, and I never had a box spring. A twin sheet could be stretched over it though due to the shorter length.

Auitaine and Cecelia G Swart, Thank you both for your feedback. Here in Germany it is much easier to get a custom mattress, although it will still set us back € 300,00. And thank you for the welcome.

James Conrad, I am new to studying antiques, so please forgive my using the wrong "period" for the bed. I don't think it is older than 1820 due to what I think being a Federal or Empire style and the fact that the saw marks prove that a circular saw was used at least when the wood was rough cut. Also, and again I am no expert, most examples of early beds (pre 1800) that I have seen photo's of also don't appear to use any kind of interlocking hardware for the side rails. But I don't know when that was introduced. Nice pictures by the way of the bed you sent as examples...Thank you.

Ghopper1924, Also, Thank you for your input.

Additional thoughts that I had, additional information that I forgot, and additional findings from that most reliable source...the internet.

As I began this process, it was simply to take my childhood bed and repair it for my son (he is outgrowing his bed- Kids European standard from that great quality furniture maker IKEA).

My parents have a set of twin beds from the 1960's that also use slats, and naturally fit a standard twin mattress and box springs while consistent in height from floor as this bed using only slats and mattress (not conclusive). However these beds are a combination of solid and engineered wood and the wood itself is in considerably better condition.

The finish on this bed appears to only have been oil or maybe oil and wax but I see little to no evidence of wax clogging my sandpaper, so I will say oil. My Mother always used old English lemon oil once or twice a year on most of the furniture in our house when I was growing up (but not the dark one).

The use of what appears to be yellow pine on the side rails points me South. The earliest known use of a circular sawmill would have been around 1817-1820. I don't have a good photo of the cut nails used to attach (with glue) the yellow pine of the side rails but from other photo's I have seen, I would say that they where likely hand cut.

As a cabinet maker, there are things I would do and things I would not do (not conclusive but food for thought). The word "Single" written in script on one side rail, makes me believe that the bed was produced in a work shop and not in someones barn or garage. To me it suggests that they had more than one project and needed to distinguish what the parts were intended for. I would be curious when the use of the word single became standard when describing a bed size.

Also the different technique of joining the head board from the foot board also suggest that it might have been two different people doing the work (I tend to stick to one technique on a given project).

The four different posts, the hand planed wood...

From what I have read, again I am no expert and the internet is not always trustworthy, modernised woodworking shops started more after 1860.

Thank you all again, and I welcome more thoughts.

 

Beautiful repair work, and great shop! Sawdust just shows you've been busy! I wish I had power tools approaching those in quality.

Wooden beds were still not standardized at the turn of the 20th century - factory made length 6', 6'-2", 6'-4", 6'-6" and just as much variance in width. Steel (brass) beds were more standardized in length, mostly but not all 76", but still not referred to as single and double, and available in at least four widths (36", 42", 48", 54"). Mattresses were ordered by the inch in width and length. I don't know when standardization started, but definitely not until into the 20th century.

Your construction with dowels to hold the head and foot board would be unusual for 19th century also, since mortise and tenon would have been more common held by ropes or bed-bolts. Hard to make judgement on hardware since it has been replaced, but the style you show definitely looks 20th century to me as well. Finally, do the finials on the posts screw off, or are they all turned in one piece? If they screw off that could give you a glimpse at some hardware that wasn't replaced.

In all I agree with Brad, though would say turn of 20th century up to mid 20th century based on your latest pics. I would have guessed walnut, but guessing wood from pics is always difficult.

 

Thanks for the photos and descriptions. I have to say that the wood looks like walnut to me in this photo. May not match current walnut stock but can't think of what else it would be. Not a lot else to go on with this bed. The use of hand cut nails to attach the supports would lend to a 19th century date. The non-standard size does as well. The dowels used in the footboard are indeed odd. Styling is really not much of a clue here, as it is a pretty basic colonial form that could have been made any time. My gut says not prior to 1860 but could have been made much later in a country shop.

 

Yeah, really can't be before 1860s and i feel much later, probably late 19th- early 20th century.

I wonder if it's any relation to Jeff Headley, a cabinetmaker in Berryville VA who runs a 5th generation cabinetmaking business there.
They build hand made furniture with hand tools, just like in the 18th century.
http://www.headleyandsons.com/index.html

 

This wasn't built with hand tools; instead power lathe, power saws and power drills.

 

Jeff Drum, Thank you I have some great old machines and good quality machines make work fun. I am a bit lazy though and in my shop a lot of saw dust usually means that.

The turned legs are all different in length, but only by about an 1/8 inch, and also the square sections are also slightly different in width and height, varying up to 3/16 and not being exactly square. The turned sections also all vary slightly. The posts are all one piece from one piece of wood (not glued).

To clarify, the headboard was joined with what looks like hand cut mortise and tendon (sadly I didn't take a picture) and the center sections vary in thickness up to 3/16". The foot board was joined with dowels, but the holes looked hand drilled or even chiselled. Because I left the existing dowels in place I can't say how uniform they were but as the posts were turned, so naturally someone could turn dowels. I will say that the dowels were quite large which is why the foot board has cracks and I needed to mill out a section and repair it. Normally a dowel is only 1/2 the thickness of the wood. In this case the center section of the foot board is 13/16 to 1" thick and the dowels appear to be between 9/16 and 5/8th. (In the photo that shows the legs separated from the foot board you will see the old dowels and the new holes I drilled on my 21 head line driller. I was using a 10mm bit set 64mm apart).

As a cabinet maker precision makes everything easier. With respect, I don't think that this bed was built in a shop with access to modern tools and I do think it was largely built by hand. That said, I do agree that the legs were likely turned on a lathe, but those have been around for hundreds of years in one form or another.

Verybrad, I hope it is walnut as that is the wood I used to repair it. What has thrown me off is how red the wood is, but as you mentioned it might not match current stock. I see no indication that the bed was ever stained, even the saw dust from where I milled out sections for repair is reddish in color.

James Conrad, Thanks for the link, I will contact them if for no other reason than to talk shop. As for Headley's Auction house in Winchester... Headley's is or was an Auction house that my family visited almost monthly when I was a kid. Most auctions were held out in a big barn and were Estate sales from around the area. My father started going and buying old furniture because it was less expensive than new and with four boys...nothing was safe. I would be curious if the two Headley's are related as Berryville and Winchester are not far apart.

Regardless if the bed is old or a pet project of a person wanting to make a piece using some older techniques i.e. hand planning and eyeball turning, I have enjoyed creating new contacts and am thankful for the feedback. I am nearly done with my repairs and can only hope that my son will sleep as well as I did.