The Making of a Log Bed

Grady and his Uncle Tim made us a new log bed frame for our king bed. Here are some pictures that I took of the process. After we spent some time picking out the logs (looking through piles and piles of logs of different widths and colors), they cut them down to the sizes that we needed. Tim then drilled partial holes in the posts for the headboard and footboard. Here's Grady cutting some of the logs down to size with the supervision of Pa, his grandpa. He came out to check on the guys a few times.
Once the logs were cut to size and drilled, it was time to plane every one down for a smoother finish. This was Grady's job, but Tim is demonstrating here.
He also had to cap the ends of the logs to either fit into the holes drilled for the frame (below) or a lot less for the "capped" look of each post (you'll see below). And, no, Tim, I didn't get any behind pictures of you...however, I really liked this one of the smile!
Grady using the planer. He spent quite a bit of time out there doing this. It makes some great shavings that the kids loved to play with. Each of these beds are hand planed, not mass machined like some I've seen.

After renting a Uhaul to bring it home in, Grady put the bed together in the garage to apply some finish. He used a finish that has some more shine than the other two beds we have had. It brought out the color very well, and makes the wood have a "wet" look. It is now in our room, and we have our headboard that we've been missing since the move. I need to take a picture of it all together now, but haven't had the time yet. It's quite a process to get one of these made, but they are so worth it. We love our log beds and just need to get one for Stuart's room sometime. Grady would like a bunk bed, but it may be a while to convice Tim to make one, something about liability (not for family though, right?).

Just a little educational class for you all. I enjoyed watching this process and was telling my mother about it, so I had to get these posted just for her. Have a great week everyone!