Expert: Eileen Cronk - 9/28/2008

Question
I purchased an old iron bed at Salvation Army-it has two side rails that hook to the headboard and footboard in a conical type receptacle. When connecting these the surface that the boxspring sits on has no way of being held in place as to not slip off the bed. Is there a part or parts missing? If so where could I get these? Please help!

Answer
Hi Scott
Nice to hear from you.
Any of these old iron beds I have seen were intended for use with a metal spring and matress. Not a box spring.
This metal spring structure sat inside these side rails which are actually long "L" brackets of sorts.
Its obvious your box spring will not sit inside these rails but is sitting on top..correct?
Most of these beds came with 4 or 5 pieces of wood about 3 inches wide and the width of the bed.
These pieces helped support the spring structure as they were placed inside the rails from side to side before the spring was positioned.
Really confused now? LOL
Scott even if you had the wood, it would not help secure the box spring so you have no parts missing for this application.
The wood slats can be easily made from any type wood and the only benifit now is to keep the bed "in square".
Hmmmmm....But, if you had some slats cut that were thick enough (maybe even 2x4's would do), you could lay them accross the frame, then screw the box spring to them (there is a wood structure on the underside of box springs).
There is no way the box spring could fall off.
The box spring obviously suits you size wise for this bed, and this is an easy fix.
Get back to me for clarification if needed.
Regards
Eileen