Plywood for Rocking Horse?

[gasmansteve]

Hi Folks
I have the plans to make a rocking horse for my grandkids and the plans stipulate Birch ply as the best to use to make the body but I`m struggling to find Birch ply in 8x4 sheets 18mm thick and wondered if anyone had either made one using different ply or knows where I could get birch ply in 18mm 8x4 sheets please. My local B&Q just stocks the external ply grades but having used this stuff in the past the quality can be be a bit iffy?
Cheers
Steve

 

[JoinerySolutions]

Contact a good builders merchant or better still a timber yard.
Cabinet grade 18mm Birch ply will run at about £58 + vat a sheet, (based on a recent quote for 5 sheets) It is a good quality plywood that can be relied on.
Cheaper plywoods based on Far Eastern timbers often contain defects and voids, these make hard work of the type of project you are planning.

HTH Rob.

 

[hamburglar]

Steve

Try a company called Lawcris in Leeds. They have a huge stock. Only down side is they charge £2 per cut. They are not far from the centre of Leeds.

Cheers

Hamburglar

 

[gasmansteve]

Thanks for the info guys :lol:
Regards
Steve

 

[Benchwayze]

Not wishing to teach you to suck eggs, but you don't need to make the body from a solid piece. You can make it in a box section, as long as the sides are thick enough to carve the body shape.

John

 

[TrimTheKing]

Not wishing to teach you to suck eggs, but you don't need to make the body from a solid piece. You can make it in a box section, as long as the sides are thick enough to carve the body shape.

John

Unless I'm mistaken the plans he's talking about are from The Rocking Horse Man and come as templates to cut the body shape which are then laminated together. Cuts down on the carving/shaping required as it's almost as simple as just knocking the corners off (only it will be a lot more difficult in practice...). Different process to making a solid wood one so you don't make the traditional box section.

I got the book, plans and DVD for Christmas, so no excuse for me to not get cracking with mine...

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Mark.
Haven't seen those myself...

Things move on! The book I have is from the 70s :lol:
I was thinking of weight and expense.

Now I am carrying on the struggle to resize this avatar!
Would be much easier if I could upload from my PC!

Cheers.
John.

 

[Shultzy]

I'm assuming you are going to paint the rocking horse, so it won't matter if the ply is a bit iffy. Just fill in the voids and sand to shape.

 

[TrimTheKing]

I'm assuming you are going to paint the rocking horse, so it won't matter if the ply is a bit iffy. Just fill in the voids and sand to shape.

This is the one I am going to be making, no paint here

 

[Shultzy]

That looks great Mark, then only the best plywood will do. You could still make the horse hollow by cutting the centre out of the central body parts, might save a bit on wood as well.

 

[TrimTheKing]

You could still make the horse hollow by cutting the centre out of the central body parts, might save a bit on wood as well.

That's precisely what the plans tell you to do

Apparently with this one you can get the entire horse out of a single 8x4 sheet.

PS Sorry for hijacking your post Steve! I too will be looking for the best place to get good quality ply when I come to doing this so interested in what replies you get.

 

[gasmansteve]

Thats the very one I`ve got the plans for Mark, `Rocky` its called!. So you can see as the ply is very much on view it needs to be decent stuff. BTW went to a different B&Q this afternoon and found some birch ply 8x4 18mm just the job (£54 ouch :lol: )
Cheers
Steve

 

[Mr Ed]

Arnold Laver will have birch ply - if you're North Yorks I would think theres one not a million miles away.

Ed