ivarch.com: Journal

9:41 PM Cat bed To help me to learn about basic woodworking I thought I'd have a go at making a little bed for the cats, based on an article I saw in Make: magazine about a Swahili bed that uses straps. Unlike that one, mine doesn't repel bedbugs, but I suppose it could if I soaked the straps in salt water for a while.

After a lot of faffing about, the cats now have a bed.

Sometimes they even deign to use it. (Pictured is Tomsk, but Ash uses it too).

Kirsten prefers it more!

If I were to do it again I would bear in mind a few lessons:

• Chisels are for wood, not for hands.
• Don't get distracted when cutting a tenon.
• Never hit the chisel down the grain unless you're SURE your cross-cut will stop the split.
• 2 objects can't occupy the same space at the same time, so try thinking about where the tenons are going to go on the corner posts, preferably before making holes.
• The stated length of a piece of timber isn't accurate, so leave some tolerance when getting it cut. (One of the legs on the bed is too short and has been made longer with old bits of wood and glue)
• Wood filler is great.

All that said, it takes my weight without complaining, so the design seems sound. Also those straps are pretty comfortable to sit on. For reference though, that size of bed (about 65x45 cm) took 25m of strapping to build.

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