Sunday 7 October 2012
Watch this space
*********** Coming soon**********
We have been looking at a number of simple projects since I last posted here and they are nearly ready so come back soon!
Monday 12 March 2012
Sore throat? No it's just a little horse!
A project that's been overdue for as long as I can remember is the rocking horse, well that and a list of jobs from Nanny Southwellski that's longer than my arm!
This will definitely be a work in progress for a considerable while.
I bought a set of plans from Anthony Dews whose website is www.rockinghorse.co.uk and as soon as they arrived I made a start.
I opted for the large rocker set of plans which will give me a horse that at almost 1.2m long and 900mm to the saddle, will be big enough for the largest wannabee cowboy/girl.
Having first carefully read the instructions and studied the plans I set to using a sharp, fine pointed bradawl to pierce through the plans at 25mm intervals into a sheet of 6mm mdf then using a pencil it became a huge dot to dot puzzle.
I ended up with the outlines of each piece marked out and ready to cut out using a jigsaw.
Once the templates had been cut cut out they were laid out onto the 18mm ply sheet (you will need 2 sheets of 18mm ply) as per the diagram supplied (below).
There is a very accurate materials/cutting list included in the instructions which themselves are supplemented by some very clear and helpful photographs.
I started by cutting out the pieces for one side of the horse and glued them together using clamps and, where necessary, screws to hold the parts in the correct place.
The screws have been removed where they are no longer needed.
The parts are designed to go together without to much hassle and they certainly do that.
I am using 18mm far eatern ply, Dews suggest Birch but if cost is an issue then far eastern WBP (Water and Boil Proof) is absolutley fine and will not detract from the beauty or resilience of your project.
It is a little softer than birch which makes it easier to sand so go easy with the sander!
Once the glue had dried on the first half of the horse it was into the vice and out with the rasps and sandpaper.
Incidentally I am using resintite powdered resin adhesive because I want a strong durable glue joint.
Because it dries hard it also doesn't clog up the sandpaper like PVA.
Sanding has started in earnest now and it's eating sanding discs for the rotary sander I am using.
Definitely a goggles and mask job along with plenty of ventilation!!!!!
The next job once the main part of this half of the body has been sanded and shaped is to do it all again with the second half.
Next time I will show how the two halves are connected and how to carve the head.
 |
| Marking out with a bradawl |
I bought a set of plans from Anthony Dews whose website is www.rockinghorse.co.uk and as soon as they arrived I made a start.
I opted for the large rocker set of plans which will give me a horse that at almost 1.2m long and 900mm to the saddle, will be big enough for the largest wannabee cowboy/girl.
 |
| Template part |
I ended up with the outlines of each piece marked out and ready to cut out using a jigsaw.
Once the templates had been cut cut out they were laid out onto the 18mm ply sheet (you will need 2 sheets of 18mm ply) as per the diagram supplied (below).
 |
| A cunning plan! |
I started by cutting out the pieces for one side of the horse and glued them together using clamps and, where necessary, screws to hold the parts in the correct place.
The screws have been removed where they are no longer needed.
The parts are designed to go together without to much hassle and they certainly do that.
 |
| The first parts glued |
It is a little softer than birch which makes it easier to sand so go easy with the sander!
 |
| Half a horse! |
Incidentally I am using resintite powdered resin adhesive because I want a strong durable glue joint.
Because it dries hard it also doesn't clog up the sandpaper like PVA.
Sanding has started in earnest now and it's eating sanding discs for the rotary sander I am using.
Definitely a goggles and mask job along with plenty of ventilation!!!!!
The next job once the main part of this half of the body has been sanded and shaped is to do it all again with the second half.
Next time I will show how the two halves are connected and how to carve the head.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Welcome to our workshop and here's a Sensory Swing!
We are very lucky to have a workshop where we do our 'proper daytime job' of teaching young people carpentry and painting and decorating. The kids and I challenge ourselves to build prototypes based on ideas or actual projects we have seen and liked - often with a bit of our own tweaking here and there. Check out www.zoneforlearning.co.uk if you want to see what we do (and what we look like).
What we will try and do here on our blog, is to show the step by step stages of some of the simple projects which we have developed and which Coco "dry runs". She appears to love being our quality control department - although some items are bigger hits than others. Like this one.
We will try and keep it simple, cheap and most of all safe, remember if you are not sure, ask!
So lets start with the Sensory Swing, this came from an idea we saw on a blog called 'Play at home mom' an American blog which gives us such a lot of inspiration.
They also give you some great ideas for other projects and Nanny Southwellski will show you how to make the best use of them on her blog 'Nanny, nanny, nanny, NANNY!'
Right, lets get to it.
The list of materials is as follows:
The base 750mm x 500mm x 18mm ply or mdf
The rope spacing disc 350mm diameter circle in 18mm ply or mdf
The rope 12m x 9mm polypropylene rope
Washers Large diameter washers with a 10mm hole
Screws 4 x 75mm no10 wood screws
Tethering ring 50mm diameter ring is ample
Carabiner A clip on steel loop which allows the swing to be taken down
You will also need, a saw or means of cutting the boards, a jigsaw is ideal. A drill/driver for putting those screws into the ceiling and a 10mm drill bit for drilling holes through the boards. oh and sandpaper for sanding!
We used mdf because that's what we had to hand, 18mm ply is ideal.
Just remember, if you are using mdf make sure you take precautions when cutting as the dust is some really nasty stuff, so dust mask and glasses at the very least.
We have dust extractors in the workshop, if we didn't the stuff wouldn't even get in through the door!
Start by marking out the base board 750mm long and 500mm wide, and measure three inches in from the ends and sides at each corner to get the position of the holes.
Drill these with the 10mm drill bit.
As this is swinging just above ankle height we decided that cutting the corners off and rounding over the edges would be a good idea. Shin pads would not go amiss!
Next cut out the circular rope spacing disc, we chose to make this 350mm in diameter because you can then cut both pieces out of a 1200mm x 600mm panel.
A panel this size can bought from any decent timber/builders merchants or DIY store for about £15 or about $12 at Home Depot in the states.
Drill 4 x 10mm holes 50mm in from the edges so that you have a hole on each point of the compass so to speak.
A lot of people think that fixing things to the ceiling is a bit dodgy. It's not.
There are a few safety rules to remember, don't fix near a light fitting or close to where heating pipes come down the wall, in theory pipes and cables are always vertical and above ceiling joist but if you can get above the ceiling go and have a look to see what's there.
We put the roof on our utility room ourselves so we know there are 225mm x 65mm joists at 400mm centres up there and a little tap with a screwdriver soon pinpointed where the closest joist was, a little poke through the ceiling board confirmed it
The next job was to fix the tethering ring to the joist using 4 x 75mm screws, we used a battery screwdriver to do this and it took seconds.
If the crew goes in and then continues to turn easily then you have missed the joist so try again.
The hard bit is now complete and it's time to get knotted!
Measure your rope so that you have 2 pieces equal to twice the height of your room plus 600mm, so if your room is 2400mm high you need 2 pieces of rope 6000mm long. You will have some wastage doing it like this but better that than not having enough.
Gather the rope together and make a loop halfway along the rope ie at 3000mm and tie off with some twine (see above) or a cable tie so you have 4 ends hanging down.
We threaded the loop through a carabiner to allow us to take it off easily and swap it for another activity such as the rope ladder.
Thread each of the ends through a hole in the rope spacing disc and then thread a washer onto each length of rope before tying a knot to keep the rope spacing disc in place.
Now thread the ropes through the base board and again add a washer before tying a knot to keep everything in place.
That's about it apart from sweeping up and letting your youngster loose on it.
Coco loves it and uses it both as a wild white knuckle ride and a place to lay and relax whilst it swings gently to and fro, a motion sometimes caused by Meg our 19 year old nearly blind dog walking into it.
The only question that remains to be answered is, 'Yes' it will probably hold your weight, I weigh nearly 100kg, that's about 220lbs and it holds me.
Have fun!
 |
| Sensory swing Southwellski style! |
We will try and keep it simple, cheap and most of all safe, remember if you are not sure, ask!
So lets start with the Sensory Swing, this came from an idea we saw on a blog called 'Play at home mom' an American blog which gives us such a lot of inspiration.
They also give you some great ideas for other projects and Nanny Southwellski will show you how to make the best use of them on her blog 'Nanny, nanny, nanny, NANNY!'
Right, lets get to it.
The list of materials is as follows:
The base 750mm x 500mm x 18mm ply or mdf
The rope spacing disc 350mm diameter circle in 18mm ply or mdf
The rope 12m x 9mm polypropylene rope
Washers Large diameter washers with a 10mm hole
Screws 4 x 75mm no10 wood screws
Tethering ring 50mm diameter ring is ample
Carabiner A clip on steel loop which allows the swing to be taken down
You will also need, a saw or means of cutting the boards, a jigsaw is ideal. A drill/driver for putting those screws into the ceiling and a 10mm drill bit for drilling holes through the boards. oh and sandpaper for sanding!
We used mdf because that's what we had to hand, 18mm ply is ideal.
Just remember, if you are using mdf make sure you take precautions when cutting as the dust is some really nasty stuff, so dust mask and glasses at the very least.
We have dust extractors in the workshop, if we didn't the stuff wouldn't even get in through the door!
 |
| Baseboard |
Drill these with the 10mm drill bit.
As this is swinging just above ankle height we decided that cutting the corners off and rounding over the edges would be a good idea. Shin pads would not go amiss!
 |
| Rope spacing disc and washers in place |
A panel this size can bought from any decent timber/builders merchants or DIY store for about £15 or about $12 at Home Depot in the states.
Drill 4 x 10mm holes 50mm in from the edges so that you have a hole on each point of the compass so to speak.
A lot of people think that fixing things to the ceiling is a bit dodgy. It's not.
There are a few safety rules to remember, don't fix near a light fitting or close to where heating pipes come down the wall, in theory pipes and cables are always vertical and above ceiling joist but if you can get above the ceiling go and have a look to see what's there.
We put the roof on our utility room ourselves so we know there are 225mm x 65mm joists at 400mm centres up there and a little tap with a screwdriver soon pinpointed where the closest joist was, a little poke through the ceiling board confirmed it
 |
| Tethering ring, carabiner and top knot. |
If the crew goes in and then continues to turn easily then you have missed the joist so try again.
The hard bit is now complete and it's time to get knotted!
Measure your rope so that you have 2 pieces equal to twice the height of your room plus 600mm, so if your room is 2400mm high you need 2 pieces of rope 6000mm long. You will have some wastage doing it like this but better that than not having enough.
Gather the rope together and make a loop halfway along the rope ie at 3000mm and tie off with some twine (see above) or a cable tie so you have 4 ends hanging down.
We threaded the loop through a carabiner to allow us to take it off easily and swap it for another activity such as the rope ladder.
Thread each of the ends through a hole in the rope spacing disc and then thread a washer onto each length of rope before tying a knot to keep the rope spacing disc in place.
Now thread the ropes through the base board and again add a washer before tying a knot to keep everything in place.
 |
| Meg, 19 and going strong! |
Coco loves it and uses it both as a wild white knuckle ride and a place to lay and relax whilst it swings gently to and fro, a motion sometimes caused by Meg our 19 year old nearly blind dog walking into it.
The only question that remains to be answered is, 'Yes' it will probably hold your weight, I weigh nearly 100kg, that's about 220lbs and it holds me.
Have fun!
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