I've finally completed my first rocking horse, for grandson Nathan, based on plans for a seventeenth-century slab-sided style:
The plans called for 3/8" ply, but I'd have to splice together the 3/8" 24" x 30" piece of baltic-birch I bought from Woodcraft, to get 36" of length for the rockers, and I decided I didn't like my odds of success especially as I was unable to get the 3-wing cutter I wanted for joinery at that time; I avoided the joinery issues and used a 1/2" 24" x 48" shop-grade birch handy-panel instead.
As this project meant entering the world of complex curves, and angles other than 90 degrees, I made plenty of mistakes, so I don't expect my horse to win any craftsmanship awards; however, the happiness of the recipient is all the reward I'll ever need:
Dad and sister Clara look on in the background; as dad pointed out, the little flaws give it "character", and represent Grandpa's handmade, doesn't-look-like-it-came-from-a-factory kind of work.
John
The plans called for 3/8" ply, but I'd have to splice together the 3/8" 24" x 30" piece of baltic-birch I bought from Woodcraft, to get 36" of length for the rockers, and I decided I didn't like my odds of success especially as I was unable to get the 3-wing cutter I wanted for joinery at that time; I avoided the joinery issues and used a 1/2" 24" x 48" shop-grade birch handy-panel instead.
As this project meant entering the world of complex curves, and angles other than 90 degrees, I made plenty of mistakes, so I don't expect my horse to win any craftsmanship awards; however, the happiness of the recipient is all the reward I'll ever need:
Dad and sister Clara look on in the background; as dad pointed out, the little flaws give it "character", and represent Grandpa's handmade, doesn't-look-like-it-came-from-a-factory kind of work.
John
