It all started back in 2003 when we found out that we had a bun in the oven. Doing the shopping for the furniture for the newly expected member to our family, we must of visited at least 10 baby retailers before the wife had finally made up her mind which cot and change table she wanted.
I nearly feinted when I looked at the price tag. The rather simple looking cot was over $1,200. I scratched my head and gave the cot a good look through to see the finer details of the cot. Joints were simple enough, all butt joints - no fancy dovetail or half lap joints.
She was only 4 months pregnant so we had a bit of time up our sleeves. We visited the shop about 3 times over a week before I we decided to buy it - crazy money I know. We then talked to the sale-lady and she said there was a 3 month wait for cot because they were out of stock.
With my fairly limited knowledge of woodworking (year 7 and year 8 woodworking classes in high school) I though that I could give it a good crack at making one myself. I convinced the wife to give me a try, what did we have to loose other than time. Baby was 5 months away, so I put the case to the wife - if I failed you can always come back and buy the cot - baby has to go in a bassinet for the 2 months anyway.
With her nod of approval, I started the ball rolling. I asked the sales lady for a tape measure so that I could check if the cot fitted the room. When she walked away to help someone else and started to measure all the elements of the cot. I made detailed drawings and got all the dimensions. I also took the camera out and took a few happy snaps of the cot to help with the build.
With a detailed cutting list in hand, I went to the local Hudson hardware and purchased a good quantity of Radiata Pine (sigh). Yes I know - why did I use Radiata? Well I was uninformed and inexperienced. More to follow.