This week I have been asked by a customer to re-make two rocking horses for their play area at a holiday park near St merryn – the horses fit onto a metal mechanism which makes them rock back and forth and are so popular with the children staying there
The old ones were constructed from plywood and treated timber and have been painted regularly by the owners but have now had their day and finally given up, so I gave this some thought to ensure that the new ones would last a lot longer and give the owners value in terms of longevity and strength so I ordered some Accoya wood and a sheet of Medite Tricoya Extreme which is an MDF based material designed to be used outside and has better strength and durability than any other product on the market – it is made from acetylated wood fibres which means it doesn’t absorb any moisture and is therefore very stable and durable – the manufacturer offers a guarantee of 50 years when this product is used above ground which is truly remarkable
Accoya is a softwood which has the same properties and guarantee so I felt sure that using these products would ensure the new horses would last into 2069 or maybe more
Firstly I marked out the components required onto the sheet and cut the Tricoya into rough sizes using the track saw and guide rail, I then marked out and cut each individual component to exact size and shape copying these details from the original horse, I then planed the Accoya to the required dimensions and cut each component to size and shaped each one as required again copying from the original
I used an Iroko dowel rod for the handle which again is a brilliant timber for outside, being a Teak substitute it has great durability
I assembled them on the workbench and used polyurethane glue ( exterior and waterproof ) with stainless steel screws to hold it all together then filled the screw holes with epoxy filler, once sanded smooth they were then ready for painting which the owner said he would do
I delivered them to him once they were complete and had a very happy customer
This has now led to further work within the play park which I am sure will be in my blog at a later date so please sign up to the newsletter if you haven’t already and you will be notified when I post again 🙂