I was contacted by a customer who had a slat bed with a support beam that was broken and needed to be replaced. Rather than getting a whole new bed, they identified the issue and found me via a business card I had at the local Rockler store. I came over and took dimensions for what was needed.
The support beam was hard maple, shaped into a “T” to provide support and strength – it was actually pretty ingenious. The vertical piece was only 1-3/8” wide, while the cross piece was 2” wide. Length was 81”, with the cross piece a little shorter (so it the vertical piece would fit into a slot). The pieces were glued and screwed together.
I went and located straight grain hard maple, and rip the two pieces to size, then crosscut to length. I sanded to 100 Grit, as this would have wooden slats above it. From there it was a matter of drilling in starter holes and then gluing and screwing the to pieces together.
I finished with a sealer coat of clear shellac to help reduce any wood movement.
With that, I drove it over. The customer had bought a box spring to sit on top of the slats, so I helped with that after installing the beam. The beam fit in like it was original, and everything looked good. I checked back in a couple of days later and he said it was good.
Interesting project
Kevin