After hand-crafting a pine seat for my Wooden Rocking Horse and appreciating the natural beauty of its grain, I aimed for a seamless, screw and nail-free mounting solution. The seat needed to be robust, ensuring my son’s safety during playtime on his rocking Tauntaun. To achieve this blend of strength and aesthetics, I opted for a classic and reliable technique: wooden pegs. This method provides an incredibly strong hold while keeping all fixings hidden, resulting in a clean and professional finish for your wooden rocking horse.
Here’s how I seamlessly attached the seat to the rocking horse using wooden pegs:
Preparing the Seat:
First, I carefully positioned the wooden seat onto the rocking horse’s body. To ensure accurate alignment, I traced the body’s outline directly onto the underside of the seat. Finding the center point was crucial for balanced peg placement, so I measured and marked the centerline. Next, I pre-drilled two pilot holes along this centerline on the seat.
To create the recesses for the wooden pegs, I used a spade drill bit, carefully enlarging the pilot holes. It’s important to drill from the top surface of the seat – the side you want to be flawless. This technique minimizes wood splitting on the visible surface, a common issue when using spade bits.
Preparing the Rocking Horse Body for Pegs:
With the seat prepared, I placed it back onto the rocking horse in its intended position. Using the pre-drilled holes in the seat as guides, I drilled pilot holes through into the spine of the rocking horse. These pilot holes marked the exact locations for the corresponding peg holes in the rocking horse body. After marking, I removed the seat and drilled the full-sized holes in the rocking horse spine, ready to receive the wooden pegs.
Assembly with Wooden Pegs and Glue:
I applied wood glue generously into the newly drilled holes in the rocking horse’s spine. Then, I inserted the wooden pegs into these holes, ensuring a snug fit. It’s best to use pegs that are initially longer than needed. Allow the glue to set completely, securing the pegs firmly into the rocking horse body.
Once the glue had cured, I trimmed the protruding pegs using a saw. I cut them down to be slightly longer than the depth of the holes in the seat, allowing for a strong joint.
Next, I applied more wood glue – this time liberally – to the back of the rocking horse around the embedded pegs, directly onto the pegs themselves, and inside the holes in the seat. Remember, when it comes to structural integrity, more glue is indeed better!
With glue applied to all mating surfaces, I carefully aligned the seat over the pegs and gently tapped it into place. The wooden pegs should slide smoothly into their corresponding holes, creating a tight and secure joint.
Finishing for a Seamless Look:
To conceal any tiny gaps around the pegs where the seat meets the rocking horse body, I used a wood filler mixture. A simple and effective wood filler can be made by mixing fine sawdust with wood glue to create a paste. I filled any minor gaps with this mixture.
After allowing the wood filler and all glue to dry completely overnight, I used a handsaw to carefully trim the pegs flush with the seat surface. To avoid scratching the seat, I left a tiny bit of peg material protruding.
Finally, using a handheld belt sander, I carefully removed the remaining peg material, sanding everything perfectly flush with the seat surface. The result is a smooth, seamless joint where the wooden pegs are completely hidden.
I am very pleased with the final look. I appreciate how the natural wood grain is uninterrupted, and the wooden peg method provides a robust and invisible fixing solution, perfectly suited for a handcrafted wooden rocking horse.
