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!

Marking out with a bradawl

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.

Template part

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).

A cunning plan!

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.

The first parts glued

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!

Half a horse!

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.