Rocking Horse #5: Hi-Ho, Silver!

Well, you’re going to see it how he sees it. More on that…

I spent several very late nights getting the horse completed for Christmas. Three nights ago, I was able to get the legs mounted to the body. I was suffering with aligning each front and each back leg but then benifitted from the time that I spent leveling my work surfaces. Thanks to Neil Lamens for that little tidbit gleaned from his Furnitology Blog. With a level work surface, the left side legs were aligned, then the horse was held plumb and the opposite sides were clamped, checked and then fastened.

After another long night of getting things sanded, routed and ready for the next step, the horse was mounted to the rockers. This was a finicky little step as I wanted it to sit level saddle when no weight was on it. That was a lot of trial and error and a hope that a K-body in front of the front legs, and one behind the back legs, would cancel each other out. I added some cross bracing to the rockers and it’s starting to look like a rocking horse. I also added mane and tail accents to the horse.

All the screw holes that will see little feet were plugged with flush taper plugs, and the rest were plugged with decorative buttons. The handles were added and the horse is ready to give for Christmas.

I decided to not rush the finish process so he’ll get to play with it a bit, and then I’ll put finish on it next week so I don’t have to rush that part.

Once the finish is on, I’ll add him/her to the projects list. Just a small list of final touches that will get done next week: Ear blocks, step blocks, finish.

As I’ve done previously with projects, here’s the list of tools that were used to complete this project. Please note, I’m by no means, a minimalist.

Power Tools:

Festool TS55 Plunge Saw – Most cross cuts and panel sizing
Festool ES150 ROS – surface sanding of all parts
Festool Domino – panel joining and alignement
Festool CT22 Vac – dust extraction on festool tools and router
Shop VAC 15 Gal – dust extraction from router and shop cleanup
Dewalt 12” SCMS – rough cross cutting of some pieces
Dewalt Jigsaw – scroll cuts on body and ends of rockers
Dewalt DW621 Plunge Router – edge treatments
Porter Cable PC718 Router – flush trimming and round overs
Porter Cable Brad Nailer – fired a couple brads to gang up parts for scroll cuts
Porter Cable Pancake Compressor – can’t use the nailer without the pancake
Dewalt Finish Sander – Sanding round overs after using a rasp and file
Porter Cable 371K Belt Sander – some contouring and beveling of the legs to the body
Makita LXT 18V Drill – holes and countersinks
Makita LXT 18V Driver – 2 screws before I changed my mind and used the clutch in the drill for driving screws
Craftex 15” bandsaw – resawing, ripping and some scroll cuts
Nova DVR-XP Lathe – turning handles and eyes and for marking centre in a jig
General International 185 Table saw – ripping, dimensioning lumber
Dewalt DW735 Planer – Dimensioning lumber
Ridgid Jointer – squaring stock for dimensioning
Ridgid Belt/Spindle sander – cleaning up scroll cuts
Craftex Drill Press – various hole drilling duties of course
Craftsman 8” grinder – sharpened a spindle gouge
General International 1HP DC – dust collection from router table and SCMS
General International 2HP DC – dust collection from bandsaw, jointer, planer and tablesaw
Performax 16-32 Drum Sander – dimensioning inlays

Hand Tools:

Veritas Low Angle Block Plane – cleaning up inlays and shooting board work for sizing inlays
Veritas Low Angle Jack Plane – cleaning up inlays and adjusting fit on some parts on shooting board
Veritas Bevel Up Smoother – some smoothing work on the rockers and legs
Veritas #4 Bench Plane – cleaning up planer marks on body panels
Veritas Edge Trimming Plane – cleaning up jointed boards for glue up
Lie Nielsen Skew Block Plane – same with opposite grain
Lie Nielsen Chisels – 1/8, 3/8, 3/4 – cleaning up inlay grooves and trimming flush plugs
Stanley Chisel – 1 1/4 – cleaning up glue squeeze out
Veritas Card Scrapers – cleaning up glue squeeze out, smooting joint on leg panels
Four in Hand File – rasping and filing round overs that I couldn’t get at with router, cleaning up bit scorch
Veritas Double Edge Flush Cut Saw – trimming flush plugs
Small Rip Dozuki – cut some walnut off a board I was too lazy to take off wood rack (pathetic I know)
Fret Saw – trimming inlays
Various Screw Drivers
Dead Blow Hammer – fit parts
Small Claw Hammer – put in plugs
Large Claw Hammer – for the plugs that wouldn’t fit
Various Mallets for chisel work
Dowelmax

Blades Bits and Jigs and Fixtures:

Forrest WWII Multi Purpose Blade – all tablesaw duties
Freud 1/4” round over bit – round overs
Craftsman 1/4” round over bit – round overs
Craftsman 1/4 flush trim bit – flush trimming
Craftsman 1/4” spiral down cut bit – cutting with trammel for rockers
Woodpeck Precision Router Lift – made life easier for sure with flush cutting wedges for leg alignment
Woodpeck Drill Press Table – a nifty unit that gets lots of use
GRRippers – Sorry Nicki, but I really dig em
Excalibur Overhead Blade Guard – tablesaw dust collection and blade cover when available
Dado Jig – cutting inlays
Small Parts Bench Hook – planing some inlay pieces
Shooting Board – dimensioning inlays
Bessey K-Body Clamps – 12”, 18”, 24”, 48”
Samona Quick Clamps – 12”
Irwin Quick Clamps – 6”
1/4” Viking Bandsaw Blade – scroll cuts and a bit of resawing when too lazy to change it
1/2” Viking Bandsaw Blade – resawing and ripping

I think that’s it.

Cheers and have a very Merry Christmas!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)