Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

Ten years ago Alley began to get together the equipment for a hobby workshop at his home. He was interested in woodworking, so he bought some tools, and started an intensive study of magazines and articles, as well as books on woodworking. He planned to retire after fifty years with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, but he wanted a profitable hobby to keep his mind, his thoughts, and his clever artist's fingers busy, as well as to supplement his annuity.

Gradually through the years, Robert Alley accumulated a lathe, drill-press, sander, jigsaw and many other tools an amateur carpenter might find useful. He spent many happy hours after work in his shop, which was a garage room back of his apartment. His spare time went into perfecting his bent towards woodworking. He repaired furniture for the neighbors, designed kitchen cabinets, and unusual whatnots. He even built a microphone stand in the shape of a pulpit for the Inglewood Baptist Church, of which he is a member. The cost of his equipment gradually mounted until it reached a total of $250. But he admits that he could not replace it today for more than twice that amount.

ON NOVEMBER 22, 1949, Alley retired, but not to oblivion—more likely to fame. Shortly afterwards opportunity, in the person of a neighbor, Mrs. Albert Smith, came a-knockin' at his hobby-shop door. She wanted him to make two antique doll beds with ruffled spreads and canopies for her small nieces. Their father had spent all of his money on a very serious operation, and Santa would not have very much in his bag for the two little girls this year.

Robert Alley didn't want to refuse her, but he did hesitate at the enormity of the task. These old-fashioned, canopied doll beds, with intricately-carved headboards, and delicately turned legs would be no easy task to produce. However, he remembered what Christmas had meant to his own children, and tenderheartedly went to work. Mrs. Smith helped all she could with little hints and valuable suggestions. She found a picture in a catalog that both pleased and delighted Alley. He patterned his first two doll beds after them. His turning lathe made short work of the legs and headboard pieces. His wife made the exquisite canopies, ruffled bedspreads, sheets and pillowcases. A local firm manufactured the miniature three-inch thick mattresses and the tiny pillows.

The completed beds were so unusual that, carried away with their beauty, Mrs. Smith ordered one for her living-room. Every woman who sees it wants one of them for herself, whether she has a little girl or not. They are just that lovely.

A FRIEND of Alley's, who is correspondent for the L. and N. Magazine, a magazine for the employees of the L. and N. Railroad, wrote an article about Alley's fifty years with the railroad, and it appeared in the magazine. He wrote a similar piece for a local newspaper, the Nashville Tennesseean. Both articles mentioned the beautiful doll beds Alley had made for Mrs. Smith and her two nieces.

Other local newspapers also wrote up Alley, and his unusual hobby was stressed by them, rather than his fifty years with the railroad.

This publicity deposited a number of "would-be" purchasers at Alley's hobby shop in short order. At first he sent these people over to Mrs. Smith's to look at her bed before ordering. But soon he was forced to build a model for display purposes, to keep from inconveniencing Mrs. Smith.

Out-of-town readers of the L. and N. Magazine wrote to Alley for a picture and description of his doll bed. He was in business almost before he knew it. Every out-of-town order calls for several more. For when it is delivered the local paper usually sends a photographer out for a picture and a write-up. Alley's antique doll beds are news wherever they are sent.

Local department stores like to handle Alley's doll beds. But he suffered a heart-attack recently, and his doctor will not let him push himself. He could make one of the beds in a day, but taking his time, he turns them out at the rate of one every two or three days.

Alley says that advertising is a very effective method for disposing of a hand-made product, but his beds themselves are their own best advertisement. Every one he sells calls for at least one or two more in that locality. At the present time he is seven beds behind in his orders, and new ones reach him every day.

Alley's success is a sincere tribute to his artistry, for his doll beds are far from cheap. The bed frame alone is $15. With mattress it is $18, and complete in all of its miniature perfection, with sheets, pillows, pillow-cases, daintily ruffled spread and canopy-top, it is $30.

AT FIRST Alley used a blueprint to make his beds. But now he has made so many, he no longer needs one. He designs each bed himself, giving each a little individual touch of its own. He fashions the beds from poplar lumber, staining them maple, walnut, or mahogany, depending upon the order. As a rule the beds measure (on the outside) thirty-four inches in length, twenty-two inches in width, and thirty-two inches in height. There are ten tiny slats to each bed.

The parts are all doweled and glued together. Alley scorns the use of nails. First, he turns the bed posts on the lathe. Because of the swing in cutting such long posts, he makes them in two parts and dowels and glues them together. He then cuts the spooled footboard on the lathe in one piece, as it is only eighteen inches long. Next he cuts on the lathe the five six-inch spools used in the headboard. The next step is to mark out the designs he intends to use, from a pattern. He cuts the outside part of the design from the wood on a band saw, the inside part on a scroll saw. Then he is ready to cut the two rails, and the bottom board of the foot, and the bottom board of the head, to take care of the six-inch spools.

At first Alley cut the two curved pieces of the canopy with the band saw. But experience has taught him that it is much simpler to soak the two pieces in boiling water, clamp and bend into shape. He uses 3³/8-inch dowels across the two carved pieces of the canopy, with a dowel in each end to go into the top square of the turned posts.

Mrs. Alley, who has become an expert seamstress, is kept busy completing the tiny sheets, pillow-cases, ruffled canopy tops and bedspreads.

Since his heart-attack Robert Alley has had to give up driving a car, smoking cigarettes, and drinking coffee or tea. "But I get a kick from making doll beds that I never got from those things," he declares, blue eyes full of twinkles.

So, with the fame of his handiwork spreading, life is truly beginning anew for Robert L. Alley.

Material Used for Antique Doll Beds

1. Poplar wood (lumber).
2. Maple, walnut or mahogany stain.
3. Dowels.
4. Heavy glue.
5. Varnish.

Machinery and Tools Used

1. Lathe.
2. Drill press.
3. Sander.
4. Jig saw.
5. Band saw.
6. Scroll saw.
7. Paintbrush.

Steps in Construction

1. Turn bedposts on lathe (cut in two parts).
2. Dowel and glue bedposts together.
3. Cut spooled footboard on lathe in one 18-inch piece.
4. Cut five 6-inch spools used in the headboard.
5. Mark out design for headboard, from a pattern.
6. Cut outside part of design on a band saw.
7. Cut inside part of design on a scroll saw.
8. Cut two rails.
9. Cut bottom board of the foot.
10. Cut bottom board of the head to take care of 6-inch spools.
11. Cut ten slats.
12. Dowel and glue the bed together.
13. Cut two canopy pieces.
14. Soak in boiling water, clamp and bend into shape.
15. Use 3³/8-inch dowels in each end to go into top square of the turned posts.
16. Stain bed.
17. Sand and varnish.