Sorry, my count is 1044 rounds.
OMG Beautiful work and BEAUTIFUL wood sir. These will be lifetime keepsakes in that family
Not to spoil it but here is my Palomino I put many a hard dusty mile on and he's still in the family. Sandy is "store bought" but he's lasted through three generations and still gives a great ride.
If you want I will measure his dimensions and post them.
Thank you. I kind of went with the elephant design because my wife likes elephants and I liked that it was different. I just did a search for rocking elephant diy plans and used the first ones that I didn't have to pay for and wasn't in metric units. [emoji38]
So far it seems to be a hit with the kiddo. [emoji3060]
I think I can figure out dimensions from your pictures. I seem to have more fun if I have to design on the fly. A couple of questions for you have any of the springs brokers and how long, what diameter are the springs. Also looks like one of the upright “legs” has been replaced. If you had to guess is there a weight limit for the riders.?
They are the original springs and are 3/16ths wire size approximately 3/4 to 7/8ths diameter. Total Spring length, .5.5 inches with 4.25 inches of actual spring. One of the posts was replaced because adults were attempting to ride Sandy one Christmas. I fixed him with an old hickory rake handle.
I would not use dowels, definitely hickory.
Sandy is 4 inches wide 28 inches long and the red runners are 32 inches long. I personally would make them longer and an inch wider due to experience, LOL.
I would not use dowels, definitely hickory.
Sandy is 4 inches wide 28 inches long and the red runners are 32 inches long. I personally would make them longer and an inch wider due to experience, LOL.
My first “successful” attempt at a serving tray using spalted sycamore from a tree my neighbor cut down last year and gave me. The epoxy came out a lot darker and more purple than the maroon I had aimed for, so I’m not over the moon with the results. But the wood does look nice with two coats of Osmo Polyx finish, and I’ll be a bit wiser with dyeing the epoxy when doing my next tray.
That spalted wood looks great. It is cool that you have a history with the Sycamore tree where the wood is from. I have never used that finish is it for protecting wood were it could get wet or scratch?
It’s an oil/wax mixture, and is supposed to be excellent for protecting wood if applied correctly, but it can lend a honey tone to light colored wood like sycamore, which is quite light, almost white, when raw. Sycamore also is a soft hardwood with a Janka hardness similar to that of yellow pine, so if scratching is a concern, probably a better choice would be a polyurethane, or even a urethane resin like Arm-R-Seal.
Here’s a pic of the untreated sycamore to give you an idea of what Polyx can do.
My next tray pour. It’s going to my neighbor from whom I got the sycamore wood, and his alma mater is Texas A&M, hence the epoxy color. I was hoping for a bit more maroon, but it’s close and the best color match of the four samples I tried mixing. The most translucent, too!
