Instructables Link:
https://www.instructables.com/Designi...

My Plan Revisions:
https://www.whosthevoss.com/product-p...





today, we are building these wooden hoping bunny toys. They are a lot of fun.

I did not come up with these. WombatMorrison on the instructables website has a very interesting article about the process and struggles he overcame to transform a hopping kangaroo into this bunny. go check it out after this video.

I took his plans and made a smaller bunny, and, added a second leg to prevent seening the blow out spot. Both are available in the description.

to begin, you'll need one of the printouts.

my first tip is to pay attention to your grain direction. the ears and skinny part of the bunnys leg are easy to break, but stronger if positioned on your board correctly.

a shortcut to transferring the doodle onto your wood without transfer paper is to set it ontop of the wood, use a semi-dull pencil and draw your shape, this can be done on softer woods like pine, although, you still have to avoid knots.

once you are done, and do not forget these little spots. lift your paper off and you can see a little indention where you just drew. outline the rabbit again, and its done!

with the pieces on the wood, cut the board to an appropriate length.

at your mitersaw or jig saw, you are first going to remove the bulk access material.

then, carefully carve out the bunny and legs. the tiny bunny is a little tricky. be safe, and do not do anything you are uncomfortable with.

with our board looking more like a bunny, its time to drill out holes for the eyes, and the dowel rods for the hoping motion. I use my drill press to get accurate 90 degree holes, but a cordless drill will render similar results. since my dowel rods are 1/4", i am using a 1/4" drill bit. i wouldnt go much bigger, especially on the smaller bunnies.

after I drill out the holes, I use my cordless drill to make the center hole of the rabbit a little larger. this is to make the holes diameter a little larger and allow the dowel rod to move freely. I tried using a 5/16 and 3/8 drill bit, but it caused the dowel rod to skip around inside the hole, and affected the hoping motion.

now we sand the project. I found it easier to use a sharpie and my comination squares ruler since we are working with smaller parts. be careful around the ears.

if you want the legs to be perfectly symmetrical. take a piece of dowel rod and connect the legs together. then, and them to match. i do this mainly for the bottoms to preven the bunny from wondering heavily in one direction. although, it atill has a mind of its own.

i dry fit everything together and make sure it hops to my liking. i add a small piece of sandpaper to the bottom of my front leg to prevent it from sliding. if your bunny is falling forward, sand a little off the front, if it sits on its bottom, sand some off its bottom.

cut your 1/4" dowel rod to be 2-1/2" long, and slide it into your first leg.

washers are optional, i used them on the bigger rabbits.

then, slide the dowels through the rabbit, and slide it into the other leg, leaving a 1/16" gap on both sides.

i dry fit everything together and make sure it hops to my liking. i add a small piece of sandpaper to the bottom of my front leg to prevent it from sliding. if your bunny is falling forward, sand a little off the front, if it sits on its bottom, sand some off its bottom.

now you can paint or stain your bunnies how you wish. Im actually a fan of the unstained, pine rabbit. and, if you paint the eyes it makes them more scary.

glue your dowels into place and you're done!

the video is over, be free my fluffy creations! BE FREE! NO, wait... TURN BACK MY ADORABLE BABIES!!! TURN BACKKKKK!!!!