The challenge & solution of a personalised oak 4-poster bed

How do you get this beautiful hand carved English made oak four poster bed, into one of the guest rooms of this wonderful 13th century Sussex manor house?

It's easy we hear you say, it all comes apart. Quite correct. In fact, they always did, even in the 1400's. But coming apart into normally manageable pieces is one thing, getting those components up a very tight spiral stairs is quite another.

The Challenge

Of course the bed could be made so it comes completely apart, in much the same way as it was before being assembled in the workshop, right down each linenfold panel, for example. Although not impossible, that option is rather impractical. 

What we normally do, is separate the posts from the surrounding framework. The side and end mattress rails shouldn't pose any problems, but you still have to be careful with the larger area panelled sections. The tester ceiling we usually split in half and the headboard panelled part normally separates away from the long horizontal pillow panel and lower rail. This leaves three large panelled sections which, under most circumstances, we can successfully negotiate around most domestic obstructions. 

However, tight oak spiral staircases, like the above, are not normal domestic obstructions.

So, to make sure we don't end up with a possible embarrassing situation, we worked out the size of the largest panelled section, made a mock up (a sheet of chipboard will do) and tested it (or get it tested if too far away) on site. In this particular case, the largest section was the headboard panelling, as it usually is, and no, it wouldn't go up the stairs!

The Solution

The fact is, it did almost go, but needed to be just a shade smaller. Here's how we did it. We made the both the top rail and bottom rail of the panelling to each be in two parts, but in such a way that it was impossible to detect the join once assembled. The split was made right at the edge of the moulded part of the two rails. See the following diagrams and photos.

Cad drawing showing the normally one piece panelled headboard section split into three components. The bulk of the top rail is separate from the narrow remaining part, which is permanently mortised and tenoned into the main panelled section. This is repeated for the bottom rail.

Cad drawing showing the tongue and groove joint between the two sections of top rail and bottom rail, with the split occurring right at the edge of the moulded section, making it impossible to spot, when assembled.

The Skill 

The following photographs show how the headboard assembly breaks down into five sections. When they're all bolted together, the narrow tenons of the rails attached to the panelled section, are trapped by the main rails, in the post mortise holes. 

All five components of the headboard assembly can be easily maneuvered up around the spiral staircase. Just to make sure, before anything was made, we tested the re-sized chipboard mock-up on site. This time success!

See how the joint is disguised on both rails, and how the narrow tenon is trapped by the larger one, once it's in the post mortise hole and bolted up securely.