Strap bedframe

Awhile ago, I decided that the floor wasn't the best place for the old futon. So I made this monstrosity of straps and lumber. It was made entirely with hand tools (a handsaw and a chisel to be exact.), except for the holes that the bolts go through.

Four 4x4 cedar fence posts, notched so that they fit into one another. Held together by rather large bolts, and almost two hundred feet of black strapping.

The bolts and washers are recessed slightly, so I don't hurt myself so often, and covered with nice round cap nuts. Luckily, the washers were exactly one inch wide, and I had a one inch chisel, so making the hole to recess them into was a cinch.

My mistake with the joints was to give myself too much room for error. Just be a little more careful with the saw, and save several hours making the recesses wider with a chisel. The joints took a little playing with, but worked out really well. I beveled the corners mostly to make it look pretty.

The "legs" of the frame were leftover peices of the posts. I cut off the corners and bolted them as shown to keep the bed from moving. At all. I wanted this thing solid.

The strapping was wrapped all the way around, and stapled on the inside face of the beam. They were pulled tight enough when I first put it on, that the beams were bending a little in the middle, and I thought would hold up.

Unfortunately, the straps have streched under the strain, and now the bed sags a little. I should have chosen something which does not strech, or some thin slats of wood woven in with the straps to take up some of the strain, or just added more of them to help hold me up.