PROJECT Rocking hippo with moving jaw
56 The Woodworker & Good Woodworking October 2019 http://www.getwoodworking.com
HENRY
THE HIPPOPART 1
Grace Silverwood returns with
another clever rocking creation1 The body components 2 The side pieces attached to form the back 3 The body clamped up
TOOLS & MATERIALS REQUIRED
- Heavy-duty bandsaw with a cutting depth
of at least 203mm for shaping the head
(but you could also use a jigsaw and shape
the head by hand using a mallet and chisel) - Angle grinder – fitted with 80 and 120 grit
sanding discs - Lathe (for turning the teeth, but you could
also use a small hand plane) - Mallet and carving chisels
- Bench drill fitted with a 20mm Forstner bit
- Dremel or Foredom rotary tool fitted with
a suitable wood burr (I used a 25mm
Saburrtooth wood burr on my Foredom) - Pencil
- F clamps (heavy-duty ones with quite
wide openings) – you’ll need lots of these - Profile gauge
- Sash cramps
- Spring clamps
- Spokeshave
- Belt sander
- Countersink
- WorkMate or outside workbench
- Dust mask and face protection
- Hot glue gun
- Hand brace with auger bits
- Big bottle Of PVA glue
- 100g ball of black wool
- Tub of wood filler
- 2 × M6 bolts, washers and nuts
- 8 × 40mm dowel pegs
Paint
- Grey for the body, white for the teeth
and pink for the tongue
Flossie the bird & toothbrush
- Plasticine for modelling
- 4×4 block of lime for carving
- 254mm length of 6mm dowel for the legs
- 3 × lolly sticks
- Cocktail sticks
A
fter Gilly the giraffe went down
well with the customer who had
commissioned me to make it, I was
then asked to make another one
for her soon-to-be-born granddaughter. I was
told that it had to be a hippo with a bird in its
mouth, using a toothbrush to clean Henry’s teeth.
To this day I still don’t fully understand where
this association comes from! Henry the hippo
is more complicated than my previous rocking
animal and has a bigger cutting list to match, so
therefore we’ll approach the build in two parts.MAKING THE BODY
The body is basically built like a hollow box,
with the underside left open. I viewed trying
to fill this in as a waste of wood, as it wouldn’t
be seen and would provide even more weight.Cutting out the pieces
The first step is to cut out the relevant body
components: we need two side pieces for the
body (photo 1). I used some 9×1 tulipwood
for this, which was planed flat, but you can use
pretty much any timber as long as it’s 9×1 and
flat. The top of the body needs to be kept flat
as this will come into contact with the back.
The back is made from a length of 6×2
redwood, but you can use any good quality
hardwood or softwood for this part, as long as
it measures 6×2 in size and is square. The next
step is to cut this to the length of the body, adding
a little bit of overhang on each end, which will
allow for the carving process at a later stage.Attaching the sides to the back
The back needs to have four pilot holes drilled