The rocking horse is a great project for new and experienced woodworkers alike so its perfect for our charity build. The construction is fairly straightforward and requires minimal tools & materials. If you would like to build along, you can download full-size patterns here. Unfortunately, the full official set of plans are no longer free but you can purchase them here. Between the video and the full-size pattern, you can probably estimate the sizes of the smaller parts, making it unnecessary to purchase the plans.
The second and final video in this series covers finishing and assembly. As with any project, you should always ask yourself if it might be better to pre-finish the parts. Since the rocking horse would be incredibly difficult to finish after assembly and all of our parts are screwed together, pre-finishing was a no-brainer.
I’ll show you some cool tricks for coloring the horses mane as well as how to effectively plug the counter-sink holes (after finishing). Here are some of the tools I used:
Tapered Plug Cutter
General Finishes Gel Stain
BullsEye Shellac
How the Charity Works
For each person who completes a rocking horse (one per person), I am donating $1 to Livestrong. We also have numerous corporate and individual sponsors who are matching my donation. With their help and yours, we are trying to reach our goal of $10,000! If you don’t want to build along you can always donate directly. And if you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please feel free to contact me. 100% of proceeds benefit Livestrong.
When you finish your rocking horse, simply send me a picture and your build will count toward our final tally. All pictures must be submitted by November 14th.
Our Sponsors
Special thanks to our individual sponsors: Erik Gilling, Joseph Buscemi, and Jason Small.