Building a Headboard to Display Asian Art

Design and Fabrication

My Denver, Colorado, Client had a beautiful handpainted screen that she wanted built into a custom headboard. So I carefully took the screen apart to extract the art. I then built a frame around each piece to incorporate it into a custom headboard.

Summary

Headboard Project Creation and Joinery Techniques

Brian discussed the process of creating a headboard project, which involved cutting and milling stock, ripping down dividers, and using a dado blade in a table saw to make a rabbet to accept panel dividers. He used a titebond wood glue in the dados and clamped them together to dry. Once the glue was dry, he squared off the panel dividers at the table saw and cut them to length. He also cut notches in the top and bottom of the panel dividers to join them to the top and bottom rails of the headboard. Brian used the domino as his main joinery method and clamped several together to give him the length needed for the glue-up. He then moved on to building the legs, laminating two pieces of 8/4 lumber together. He incorporated a compound angle at the top of each leg and used a hand saw to finish the cut. He also used a belt sander to smooth out saw marks and refine the curves. The art panels were then dropped in place and secured with strips of wood, which were cut at a 2-degree angle to protect the art from being scratched during installation.