It seems we said something in the table of contents about doubledeck bunks for extra sleepers. They are certainly a helpful addition to any kind of a camp or week-end hideaway, and are also in high favor nowadays in the room fitted up for boys (if any) in the nautical manner. (You know the kind of room, and very jolly it is, too, with sea-chests, lockers, a ship model, maps, and anchors aweigh painted here and there, with rope used instead of moldings, fish-net curtains- everything complete except the ocean and the slight aroma of bilge.)

But to get to work-the first thing to do is to order some 3/4 width bedsprings, most likely from a mail-order house, and have them on hand before you begin to build. The idea is that the construction must fit them. It's just silly to expect the springs, which are already made, to fit the construction.

The principal lumber you will use will be surfaced 2"x 4", and you will fasten the affair together either with good big nails, many of them as much as 3" long, or, better still, with bolts. (3/8" carriage bolts, with nuts and washers-at any hardware store.)

Just the form of rest used for the springs will depend upon what style of spring you get, but in any case it will be an end-support, so we can plan accordingly.

Strictly speaking (and we had better speak strictly in the interests of not having this thing collapse in the middle of the night) it should be made so strongly and rigidly that it will stand alone, like the furniture-built ones.

If it is being built in a camp or some such place, you could probably carry the posts up to a strong nailing to the rafters or ceiling, but we had better suppose it's being built in a regular house.

Starting with the posts, these could be figured 7' 2" tall, according to the drawing on the next page. If the ceiling were too low for the customer in the upper berth, you would have to steal 6", or even a foot from the 4' 0" space figured between the upper and lower.

Now let's get to work, with no further stalling around. Cut all four posts to exactly the required height. (The lumber is 2"x 4" surface, No. 1 grade.) Lay them on the floor, on edge, and with the ends accurately matched.

A sketch and various details for the building of a double-deck bunk-an ambitious project, but by no means too difficult.

They are to be notched to take the 2"x 4" end pieces, as shown in the drawing. This is a job for saw and chisel, but first mark off the 4" saw cut across the edges of all four posts. Then lay them flat and mark off the 1 1/2" depth of the cut. Make the cuts, being careful to keep the cutting edge of the saw in a perfectly perpendicular position. You will find how important this is when you come to the chisel work.

Having made the saw-cuts, you now take chisel and hammer and split out the notches as shown opposite. Better do this a little at a time, so that when you reach the depth-mark you will have a chance to make a clean, even surface to take the end pieces. Don't saw past the depth marks, or the chisel will split the notch out too deep.

You might as well go right ahead with making these notches, because you couldn't use the posts until this was done, and you will want them to be ready.

As this edifice you are now involved in building is supposed to be a bed, it would be well to run the plane once or twice over all the sharp corner edges, which can later take a few licks with the sandpaper block also. And it's easier to do this planing before you assemble this structure.

Now we attack the lumber again, and cut the four end-pieces from the same 2"x 4" stock as the posts. Before going any further, you need to decide whether you are going to nail the whole thing together or bolt it together. Bolting such a piece of work makes a good job, strong and neat-looking, and it would be essential if you were likely ever to want to knock the piece down to move it. With bolts it could be easily reassembled at any time. Of course you have to bore holes for the bolts, and the decision whether to use bolts, or whether to nail it together for keeps is up to you. We wouldn't know....

So-the end-pieces are now to be cut to the dimension of the width of the spring, +4" for the combined width of the two posts, +11/2" for leeway, and nail or bolt them into the notches in the uprights as shown. The notched joint is a good strong one-almost as good as a carpenter's mortice-and-tenon joint-and much easier to make.

To strengthen the joint further (and there must be absolutely no "give" anywhere) an effective reenforcement is a 6" or 8" angle shelf-bracket, such as may be secured in any hardware store. Of course, if you have lots of time and patience, and want to make the affair look more nautical, you can cut out wooden corner pieces, from 11/2" or z" white pine, whittling and sandpapering them to shape and putting them in with long, thin screws, and a long finishing nail, toenailed into the top, where you couldn't use a screw. You would cut them out with the compass saw, working them down afterward.