Rocking Horse Plans Build Continued Day 2

Rocking Horse Plans – Fitting the Legs

As I said previously I drilled the top hole in each leg, but before fitting the leg to drill the second hole, I fitted the template over the holes in the body and drew round the sides so I could line up the legs properly.

Here you can see the top hole already drilled in the leg and the pencil mark where the template was. After I drilled the bottom hole I marked each leg on the joint face (where the holes are) so I could put each leg back in its right place later.

I fitted the top dowel into the leg and inserted the dowel into the body. I put a clamp either side of the leg, this stops it moving around when I turn it over to drill the bottom hole through the body in to the leg.

Rocking Horse Plans – Drill Depth Gauge

So that I don’t drill too deep, I measure the depth of the dowel that I wanted to fit in the leg and added the thickness of the body. Then I measured that distance from the tip of the drill bit and put a masking tape flag on the drill bit. When the flag touched the body I knew I had drilled far enough.

When you build your rocking horse you may find the dowels are a bit tight, don’t force them in as you will have trouble taking them out again and we only need a temporary fit at this stage. An easy way to sand the dowels if you need to, is to place them on the belt sander with it running and just apply light pressure as you roll it to sand all the way round, try it frequently for fit, you don’t want it loose. It should be a firm push fit but not hard. Watch your fingers though if you do it this way.

When I finished drilling all the holes in the legs, I assembled them dry ( without glue) then I laid the rocking horse on its side.

I put a straight edge across the bottom of the legs where the rebate is, then drew a line on each leg. Because the legs are angled I needed to make a cut to fit the rockers where I had just marked it, I used my dovetail saw but any fine blade small saw would have done just as well, I removed the small angled piece.

I checked the rocker fit it which is fine it touches on the back and the top, I’ll check it again once the legs have been glued in place.

I marked and drilled the underneath of the seat and the body for 2 small dowels and dry fitted it all together. You could drill right through the seat into the body but I prefer a hidden joint so I used the template I made for the legs and measured from the front of the seat to position it it them marked and drilled. I used anothe drill bit flag to get the depth right.

I’ll cut and fit the the spacers after I have glued the main parts together.

Next I’ll take the rocking horse apart and sand all the parts smooth especially the edges.

Rocking Horse Plans Build Continues – Click here

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