Antique beds traditionally used a spring unit that attached to the side rails and that houses a feather mattress. Those old spring units, which can still be found today……have no real practical use. The springs are weak and have little tension to support a large mattress, let alone a person. When used, iron beds with this old spring unit feels more like a hammock than a bed. So here’s what we do on all of the beds we get in. We build a wooden 2″ x 4″ support system wich will support todays modern heavy box springs and mattresses. They are basically wooden 2″ x 4″ bed slats that we cut and nail in place shorter lengths of 2″ x 4″s under the bed slats, which come down to the floor. Take a look at the photo. This is a bed we had converted to a modern 
king size. You’ll see four wooden bed slats with short struts nailed under them to add support to the heavy mattress. Built properly, you’ll never have to worry about ending up on the floor.
I hope you’ve found this blog informative . I invite you to revisit my website
to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.
I also invite you to take a look at our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.
