The legs of the rocking horse are splayed away from the body.
The angle on each leg needs to be consistent with the other three. To maintain uniformity, I decided that the easiest thing for me to do, would be to build a simple jig for the router.
I built the jig at an angle that corresponded with the required splay.
Each leg was clamped square with the bottom edge. I tightly screwed two cleats to either side of the top of the leg. This prevented any left to right movement. Two rails were fastened to the top of the jig to accommodate the router sled.
The router was fastened to a piece of 3/4″ plywood which was large enough to allow the router to traverse the entire length of the jig.
I set a 1/2 rabbiting bit to the correct depth and started working the router sled slowly back and forth, removed the necessary material. This produced a nice surface which required very little sanding.
I dry fitted and and sanded each leg needed to achieve a perfect fit.
Next I drilled holes for plugs, glued and screwed the legs in place, then plugged the holes. After that, lots of sanding and shaping. Finally, I was able to fasten the horse to the rocker base.
In the next post, I will talk about the finishing touches as well as a major set back to the build.
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