How To Build A Rocking Horse

Toddlers dearest to rock, and this wooden rocking horse is as much fun to utilise as it is to build. Requite your imagination gratis rein when yous build this fantasy friend.

Tools:

• Measuring dominion
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Straightedge
• Scissors
• Saber saw
• Weights or clamps
• Wood file
• Drill
• Countersink
• Screwdriver
• Brace and bit
• Compass
• Paintbrushes
• Hammer

Materials:

• Brown paper
• 3/4-inch course A-B plywood
• Carpenters' glue
• 2 ten four and 2 x vi pino stock
• 2-inch #12 flathead wood screws
• ane ane/2-inch #10 flathead woods screws
• 1-inch wood dowel
• Woods filler
• Primer and nontoxic, child-safe gloss paints
• Leather strips and scraps
• 1-inch and 1/2-inch studs

Time: About 2 days

Cut the Pieces

On a large canvass of brown paper, at to the lowest degree 48 inches foursquare, use a pencil, ruler, and straightedge to marking off a 24 x 24-foursquare grid of 2-inch squares. Using the cutting diagram illustrated, transfer the design for the rocking horse pieces onto your filigree, and cut them out. For the seat and legs, trace only one-half of the pattern; then fold the traced piece over and cut it double-thickness, to ensure that the two halves of each piece will be symmetrical.

Utilise the paper patterns to trace each piece onto 3/four-inch grade A-B plywood. Use a saber saw to cut out the three pieces of the head and torso, the two leg pieces, and the seat.

Stack the three caput/body pieces to check them for fit; minor differences tin can be smoothed later. Employ carpenters' glue liberally between the iii pieces, and weight or clench the pieces together. Let the clamped pieces dry overnight.

Assembling the Horse

To assemble the equus caballus, cut a 2 1/4 ten five-inch slot in each of the leg pieces to lock the legs onto the body. Cut two 9-inch-long body braces from two ten 4 pine stock. Utilize a wood file to round one long edge of each brace.

To caryatid the legs where they lock into the body, cut two ix-inch pieces of two 10 4. Round i long border of each trunk brace with a woods file.

Temporarily align the legs on the head/body pieces with a trunk caryatid between them; the top rounded border of the body brace should be even with the tops of the legs. Apply glue to the side of the brace that volition butt against the body of the rocking horse. Drill and countersink 3 holes -- ii 1 1/two inches from each stop of the torso brace and 1 centered between them -- for two two-inch #12 flathead wood screws. Bulldoze the screws through the brace to secure it to the horse's trunk. Repeat to secure the other trunk brace to the other side of the body.

Cut ii xvi-inch-long leg braces from ii x 4 stock. Employ glue to one ii x 4 brace where information technology butts with the bottom of a leg piece; the bottom edges of the brace and the leg must be flush. Drill and countersink two holes through each of the leg braces for two 2-inch #12 flathead wood screws. Drive the screws through the caryatid to secure information technology to the leg slice. Echo to secure the other leg and leg caryatid.

Utilise glue to the edges of the slot on the forepart leg piece and to the point where the leg will butt against the forepart of a body brace; slip the front leg piece, brace facing to the rear, into place. Drill and countersink two holes through the front leg slice on both sides for two one i/2-inch # 10 flathead wood screws, and bulldoze the screws to secure the legs to the brace. Repeat to attach the rear legs; place the leg brace facing forward.

Making the Rockers

To make the rockers, cut ii 48-inch pieces of two 10 6 pine stock. Use a compass to shape each end of each piece to the curve of a 5 ane/2-inch-diameter circle, and so that the rockers curve up to a point at each cease.

To brand the rockers, cutting 2 48-inch pieces of ii × 6. Shape the ends of the pieces to a smooth curve, then that the assembled horse will rock evenly.

Align and center a rocker against the leg pieces on one side of the horse. Utilise glue to the ends of the leg braces and the bottom role of the edges of the legs, and spike the rocker to the legs. Drill and countersink two holes through the rocker at each point where it butts against the leg braces, for two 2-inch #12 flathead wood screws. Drive the screws through the rocker and into the leg braces.

Align the second rocker so that it matches the outset i. Glue the rocker into place and secure it with wood screws, as above.

Adding the Handle

Use a brace and bit to bore a 31/32-inch hole into the head, equally indicated on the cutting diagram, for the handle. Cut a 10 inch-length of 1-inch dowel, and hammer the dowel into the hole until an equal length is on both sides.

Attaching the Seat

Utilize glue to the superlative edge of the back of the rocking horse, and set the seat into place. Drill and countersink ii holes through the seat near each end for two two-inch #12 flathead wood screws. Drive the screws through the seat and into the dorsum to secure the seat.

Finishing the Horse

To finish the horse, fill all countersunk screw holes and any imperfections with wood filler. Utilize a woods file to round all rough or sharp edges, including the exposed ends of the dowel through the head. Sand the unabridged rocking horse smoothen.

Utilise a coat of primer to the unabridged horse and let it dry, as directed by the manufacturer. Apply two coats of paint to the equus caballus; use nontoxic child-safe gloss paint, specified as dry out-film, baby-safety. Allow the paint dry thoroughly between coats. Pigment the torso and the details whatever colors yous like -- use your imagination to paint the horse's mane, saddle, sure-fire, optics, nose, and nose rein.

When the pigment is completely dry, cut two thirty-inch strips of leather for the reins. Attach one strip to each side of the head with 1-inch-diameter studs. Tie the other ends of the strips together and rest them on the handles.

Cutting random lengths of leather for the tail. To attach each strip, pivot ane cease of the strip through a i/2-inch stud and hammer the stud into the rear of the equus caballus.

To make the ears, cutting two equal triangles from a 6-inch foursquare of leather. For each ear, fold two corners of a triangle over so they overlap slightly, and secure the ear to i side of the head with a one/2-inch stud.

Assemble the horse as shown: lock the legs into place and brace them at the body and across the bottom; attach the rockers and the seat, slide the dowel through the drilled dowel hole, and add together reins and tail.

Some other fun toy you can build for children is a sandbox. Encounter the adjacent page for instructions.

For more information on do-it-yourself projects, endeavour the post-obit links:

• How to Choose Toys for a Child: Here you lot will larn about which toys are beneficial for stimulating your kid''due south growth and development and which toys can be unsafe.
• How to Mend Clothes: In this commodity, yous volition learn how to make your kid's clothes last just a picayune bit longer by mending them yourself.
• Consumer Guide: Educational Electronic Toys: Read Consumer Guides's reviews of the electronic toys that are available for your child.

Source: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/how-to-make-toys6.htm

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