got the steel from Bruce Horkey's. The way the old bed was assembled didn't let me get a look at the rails till late in the game. I gave Horkey's the hole measurements, which were stock and he got them to me in 3 1/2 days.
The bed wood drawing going around is pretty accurate. On the 53, the two front holes actually need to be drilled in the steel strips, not the wood. other wise the locations and dimensions of the counterbored holes was right on.
The front sill was kind of a pain, but I temporarily bolted it to the bed front angle using four of the holes. That kept it from rocking while I shimmed it and got the outside boards installed, including the bed bolts thru the front sill. Once those were in I pulled out my four temporary bolts and everything else lined up pretty well. I didn't have a helper so I had to weight some of the bolts from the top in order to get the washers and nuts on. I kept a glob of beeswax on the creeper for sticking the washers on. That worked great because some of the spaces were less than accessible.
Oh yeah, this is red oak, with a golden oak water stain, 2 coats. I followed this with two coats of west system epoxy. 4 coats on the ends.
Bill
http://s1195.photobucket.com/albums/...t=f09da25d.jpg

 

image needed http:// in front



looks fabulous!!

 

Bill,
That looks fantastic. I need to refinish my bed as well and you just pushed it to the top of the priority list.

Are the bed strips from Horkey better quality then those from the big supply houses?

Steve

 

I really can't say whether Horkey sells steel different than some of the others. They are good quality and I liked the idea that the owner answers the phone sometimes and does some of the mill work. I know I considered price too. I went for the unpolished stainless and they look pretty nice.

 

I love the color! Looks like you did a great job, it came out nice!

 

Nicely done, you got the color I was trying for, but mine ended up slightly lighter.