Now I could start my first furniture project: hardwood flat panel queen bed. However at that time when I started, I don't have a very good source of hardwood supply, my only choice is either Homedepot or Lowes. There are only three kind of hardwood available: maple, red oak and poplar. Maple and red oak are really expensive, to make a bed with these material will cost a lot. I am not confident with my skill to use these two hardwood, so poplar is my choice.
To make the flat panel, I got a Ryobi BTS10 table saw for $99 at homedepot, which is a piece of crap as I later found out. To enhance the accuracy, I also made a sled, but it did not help much. I later returned it and bought a much better one.
I also got a Ryobi router and router table combo, also proved to be crap. It has a 1 1/2HP router that only accept 1/4" shaft router bits. This is a big mistake for me, casue it limited the function of this router. Also the router table is small and the fence is terrible. Anyway, it was my first router and table, and I used it to finish my first furniture project.
Of course I need a set of rail & stile bit with 1/4" shaft, it is really hard to find this size of the shaft, just because the router I got can only use 1/4" shaft. It costed me $70, at least I found it to finish my project. It has ogee profile, which is the one I reall like at that time.
Tools are ready, now it is the time to finish the project. I found a set of rails from Building 19 for just $20, that saved me a lot of money if I had to buy it from BORG.
Cut the poplar to make the legs for the headboard and footboard.
