Where screws are to be covered with long-grain plugs, first bore a shallow
5/16 inch deep by 1/2-inch diameter hole for the plug with a 1/2-inch bit.
Then, through the center of this hole, drill the screw hole all the way
through the wood.
When building complex pieces of furni-ture that have curved lines such as
the rocking horse or garden "heart" bench, the best way to insure an accurate
job with a minimum of mistakes is first to make a full-scale layout sketch
of the piece on a large sheet of paper tacked on a piece of plywood.
Such a drawing will graphically reveal in full size all angles, bevels,
miters, curves, assembly points, and true measurements. In fact, full-size
patterns can be cut from your layout on heavy paper.
Since, in many cases such as the rocking horse, patterns of parts overlap
each other it is advisable to cut out one pattern at a time while leaving
the rest of the layout tightly tacked in place. Then, after using the pattern,
place it back in its original place, tape it with transparent tape, and
continue cutting out patterns.
All templates must be cut carefully with a sharp knife.
Another method of full-size layout trans-ferred to wood is, when working with
large surfaces such as in the clown slide, where the layout took all of a
4x8-foot sheet of plywood and a paper layout would require excessive time and
be inconvenient, to make the layout directly on the top sur-face of the plywood
itself. Then merely cut the plywood along the lines.