Rocking Horse Plans Build Continued
Rocking Horse Plans Day 4
Before I attached the legs to the body, I drilled the fixing holes at the bottom end of the legs. I also drilled a 1/2″ (12.5 mm) counter sink hole for plugging later with the 1/2″ dowel. I clamped the rockers to the legs then drilled pilot holes before gluing and screwing the legs to the rockers. With hardwood it is especially important to drill pilot holes so that you don’t split the wood when you screw in a screw.
After attaching the rocking horse legs to the body with the dowels and a good wood glue I screwed and glued the rockers to the legs then cut short lengths of dowel and glued them in over the screws.
After the glue had set I sanded the dowels flush with the legs.
Next I cut all the spacers to length, I made mine slightly longer than stated in the rocking horse plans so it’s a good idea to wait until you have the rocking horse assembled before you cut the spacers. Normally I would have used my cut off saw but I had lent it to my eldest son so he could do a job at his home. That being the case I used my triton work bench with my 9 1/4″ portable saw. There is always more than one way to do a job in woodworking. You can see I have clamped an offcut to the saw table this is so I could cut all the spacers the exact same length. Most table saws will have guides or stops that you can adjust but an offcut and a clamp works just as well.
After cutting the spacers to length I marked them and cut a rebate so they were a firm fit between the rockers. After cutting the rebate I sanded all the edges smooth, don’t sand them until you are happy with the fit. As my spacers were a firm fit I decided wood glue was all that was needed, the board and brick you can see are just weighing the spacers down until the glue sets. I use an aliphatic type of wood glue which sands easily when set. Normal PVA type wood glues tend to go rubbery when you sand them.
Rocking Horse Plans Build Day 5
After all the glue had set I gave the finished rocking horse a light sand with 240 grit by hand and then the first coat of clear. I used a marine clear estapol because that’s what I had available in my workshop. After 12 hours I gave it a good sanding with my mouse sander and then by hand, it has now had its second coat. Of course I had to wait for the lacquer to dry before I could do the underside.
Rocking Horse Plans Build Final
This time I just gave the rocking horses a light sand with 240 grit paper, dusted them off and painted on the final coat of clear
I am very happy with the final result, can’t wait until my grandson unwraps it on Christmas Day. I will be donating the second horse to somewhere suitable before Christmas.
I have had the pattern for this particular rocking horse redrawn at full size and it is my gift to you if you want it, if you decide to purchase John’s plans, just send me your clickbank receipt number using the contact us page and I will send you a PDF file that you can take to your local printer. An A1 size print should only cost a few dollars, you can use a USB memory stick, a CD, some printers will even accept email. You will get the 2 pages below.
If you have followed my build all the way through, thank you, I really do hope you try this or one of the other rocking horse plans in John’s collection. Just click the button below to get access to the plans absolutely risk free with John’s 60 day 100% money back guarantee, no questions asked.
P.S. I donated the second rocking horse I made from the rocking horse plans to Uniting Care Wesley’s Christmas Toy appeal, so I am sure it will go to a child somewhere that otherwise may have gone without this Christmas.
