Rocking Horse Charity Build Results

The Wood Whisperer posted the official results of 120 rocking horses being built. The total amount raise is still to be determined, but as of right now is at $5,196.  A Gallery has been made containing the pictures. I am proud to have been a part of this and I hope to be able to more next year.

Special Guest Helping

I had a special guest in the shop on Sunday while I was working out there. My 4 year old daughter came out to "Help" with the rocking horses. She had to test out the prototype rocking horse.

Then we took it apart for more sanding, and to use some parts of it as patterns. 

 Safety is very important.

 She saw my safety goggles hanging on the wall and wanted me to wear them to match her instead of my safety glasses.

Hopefully over the long Thanksgiving Weekend I can get all the rocking horses ready to finish.

More work on the Rocking Horse

There hasn't been an official post about it, but Marc aka The Wood Whisper mentioned on social media sites that 118 rocking horses were submitted for the Charity build.

Last night I got all the parts for the second horse sanded to the right shape, and got all the surfaces sanded to 80 grit. In the picture below I have drawn pencil lines across a side, when all the lines are gone I know I have sanded the whole side sufficiently. 

It was a cool 34 outside while I was working last night so I let Ellie Mae come in the shop and hang out while I worked.  The noise from power tools doesn't bother her at all, she laid next to my feet most the evening, even while running the sander and the jig saw. She had to be watched though because she likes to chew on wood, and some times will steal pieces to chew on.

Proto type horse

The rocking horse charity build was part of the reason I was building rocking horses. There was deadline to submit a picture by the 14th of November and I was getting short on time so I put together 1 of the rocking horses  with out finishing it first so that I could get a picture submitted. When I was drilling out the counter bore holes that will be plugged to hide the screws there was some major tear out in the soft pine board. This means this horse will be painted and a 3 rocking horse will probably be made.

The Tale of the Second Horse

I started on the second rocking horse last night. I used the parts from the first as patterns and drew the parts out on the board.

 After cutting out the parts with the jig saw, leaving the line, I used the original side from the first horse with the router to make the sides for the second horse match the first. Then I clamped all the sides together to sand the edges.  Sanding more than one board at a time helped keep the edges flat.

After more sanding it will be time for assembly.

Rocking around the clock

Okay so I am not working around the clock on these rocking horses but most the work is being done after the kids go to bed. So after working all day and being dad, then going out to the shop for a few hours it feels like I'm working around the clock. Now onto the project.

I am building a pair of rocking horses as part of The Wood Whisper Fall Charity Build.
There were patterns for most parts and the few parts that didn't have patterns the layout was simple.
I cut one side of the horse out and all the other pieces leaving the line and then sanded them to the line.
The second side was then cut out a little over sized and then I clamped the 2 sides together and used a flush cutting bit in the router to make the send side match the first side. The picture below was taken right before I trimmed the second side.

 Here are all the parts for one rocking horse. Before I do anymore work with this horse I want to get the parts for the next one cut out and use these parts as patterns with the router.

please check back for more, I am trying to get these completed this week.

More than just wood working

Some how it got in my head that since I named this Wood Chuck's workshop that I should just post about wood working projects. While wood working is something I would like to focus a little more on there is a lot more than just wood working taking place around my shop. With it being fall there are is maintenance to do on outdoor power equipment along with getting snow removal equipment ready.

One of my most recent projects was to install a wood stove in my workshop. That will make it much more comfortable to work out there this winter.

Before I can do much more on any projects the shop is in need of a good cleaning and rearranging. I still plan to build a Rocking Horse for the Wood Whisper Charity Build, Dead line for that entry is Nov 14th so I have to get that done soon.