Joinery for the trundle bed

Making the trundle bed.

Definition: A low bed on wheels that can be stored under a larger bed (also called a “truckle bed”).

I won’t put wheels on the trundle bed. Instead, small and thin blocks should do the job.

I decided to use finger joints.

Trundle bed.

Why? Real joinery. Fast. Easy to dial in the fit. A pleasure to make using the F3 finger joint template on the D4R Pro jig (see photo at right).

The challenge when machining joinery using narrow boards is always keeping the work piece square to the template. How best to do this?

It starts with truly square boards.

I spent what seemed like a long time (10 minutes!) squaring the sliding table saw miter gauge to the blade. And following each cut, I checked for squareness. This way, the sidestops on the D4R Pro always ensure perfectly aligned boards under the finger assembly of the F3 template.

Machining finger joints on F3.

Lowering the finger assembly onto the spacer board resulted in the fingers touching the end grain flat, and in perfect alignment.

If you are having trouble with your joinery, follow the steps I describe above. You will get perfect results every time.

How do you do it?

I look forward to hearing from you.

1. Do you make toy furniture?
2. What type of joinery do you use?
3. How do you make the joinery?

 — Al Navas