How to Build a Custom Growth Chart

Sally Lee, editor-in-chief of Parents Magazine, visited Ron in his workshop for this next project. She and Ron together built a wonderful project for parents and children.

Click Here For a list of what you will need in order to complete this project.

1. Design:

• Ron showed Sally what he had in mind…a growth chart in the shape of a rocket ship.
• View, download and print Ron's growth chart drawings

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• The midsection and largest part of the rocket was made of pegboard, but Ron began by working on the nosecone and base. They drew the triangular shaped nosecone onto a 1 X 12 piece of pine.

• Ron used a Japanese handsaw to cut out the shape for the top of the rocket.

• After cutting out the base and nosecone of the rocket, they marked and then cut out the pegboard for the middle section of the rocket.

• The reason Ron chose pegboard for this project was because of the quarter-inch holes that are uniformly spaced exactly an inch apart. These would be used as a ruler to determine the child's height.

• They transferred the dimensions of the nosecone to the pegboard…

• …and then trimmed away the excess.

3. Gluing:

• Next, they applied moldings to the edges of the pegboard to give it some thickness and to conceal the cut edge. They brushed wood glue onto the back of the strip of molding and then pressed it firmly onto the edge.

• They attached a second strip of molding onto the opposite edge in the same way.

• They turned the pegboard over and cut off the excess trim.

• Next they glued down the nosecone….

• …followed by the base.

• They also attached trim along the front edges of the rocket ship. While they waited for the glue to dry, they held everything together with clamps.

4. Height markers:

• To create the markers that would be used to record each child's height, they used the same wood they had used for the trim. Ron clamped a strip of scrap pegboard on top of the trim. The pegboard was used as a template to drill small holes into the wood. They would cut the trim strip into short pieces, put some short dowels into the holes they had drilled and then stick the markers into the pegboard.

• Ron put a piece of tape on the drill bit as a depth guide or depth gauge. If he drilled only to the edge of the tape…