What is a plank bed?

What is a Plank Bed? It’s a fair question. When we are in a certain industry or field of expertise, it is easy to forget that the vast majority of people won’t know the terms and phrases that we use on a daily basis.

This is one of the reasons we wanted to start writing a blog. Hopefully, we will be able to write informative and (sometimes) interesting articles that aim to arm our customers with helpful information.

Plank Beds are…

So are plank beds? It really isn’t rocket science. A plank bed is a simple bed design. With ‘planks’ of timber jointed to square posts. It’s as simple as that. There are a variety of versions and qualities of plank beds out there, using different timber, different section sizes of timber, methods of construction and not every furniture company in the country uses the term.

We make standard plank beds with headboards and footboards and we make plank beds with no foot end.  This offers a space-saving option for those with cosier-sized rooms. Ashton And Coleman plank beds come with equal-sized planks in the mill-sawn pine range and random-width planks in the re-sawn oak range. This has to do with the way in which you bulk buy hardwoods and softwoods.

The biggest issue out there for customers is making sure they have compared beds from different companies fairly. This is about price vs quality and making sure that you, the customer are getting true value for money.

We pride ourselves in making furniture that is actually built to last forever, not just a lifetime or the length of the guarantee. It would be easy for us to make our plank beds using fancy metal brackets negating the need for actual timber joints, or we could simply glue and screw them together and plug the holes with wood. We could use slimmer or smaller sections of timber, and from an online photograph, you could hardly tell the difference. Let me tell you, there is a big difference. If you make a plank bed properly with good old-fashioned mortice and tenon joints of a good size from good section sizes of timber, there is no way you could actually break the bed, whether you go for a pine plank bed or an oak plank bed, the joints are so strong in pine that it doesn’t matter that the oak is technically stronger.

The problem with making it properly is that it simply takes more time, you need more machinery and space and you actually need to care about the product that leaves your business. Making a plank bed in any other way is (in our opinion) disrespectful to the natural material being used and simply not good enough.

In summary, a plank bed is a bed made from simple planks of timber with no fuss or unnecessary detail. And in case you missed it…..Ashton And Coleman’s beds are just better.