December 2017
Time to make: 2 hours
Boys Life "Slide of the Month"
Dec. 1992, page 65
Original design: Jeff Springer
A fun little slide with a dual purpose. The directions called for 1/4 " pine to make this but I happened to have some extra thin plywood left over from another slide (yet to be published) and thought I would give it a try. I laid the design for parts out on the plywood and proceeded to cut them out using a pair of scissors. I did a quick look at how the parts would fit together and decided to add an additional support from the bed of the slide to the steering handlebar for strength. I then stained the parts using permanent markers. Next was the assembling the sled with some wood glue. I realized very soon after that I should have use the 1/4 inch wood instead of the 1/16 inch plywood because the plywood did not have the joint strength for the slide. Not to worry, I added some square wooden supports to the inside of the slide which gave me more surface to glue to and additional support. The bed of the slide is decorated with a poinsettia design printed to white water slide paper and then cut just slightly smaller than the bed of the slide. Sealed the slide with a couple of coats of poly.
What is the second purpose of this slide you might be wondering...