Making Scaly Chicken Legs.

I've made the legs for the chicken on the unicycle. The only real worry in making these is that they never become to close to vertical when the unicycle wheel rotates so they will not "lock" or try to bend in the other direction. I made these out of poplar. I usually use a hard wood like maple for these but because they are not transmitting a load and I want to burn some scaly leg details on them I went with poplar. Deep pyrography works better on a softer wood than something hard like maple.

The first photo shows the pieces that make up the legs.  The feet are made separately and glued on to the bottom of the feet, then they are blended together. The second photo shows then with pins installed that provide to centres of rotation.  The pins are not trimmed yet as I often disassemble and reassemble them many times during the fit up process. In the end I cut the excess length and then sand the remaining nub on my bench sander.

You will also see some scales on the legs. I used a small fish scale pyrography tool to burn these imprints into the legs. Yes that's right fish scales! You would have never guessed if I didn't tell you!

Next add a little yellowy paint, yet to be touched up after fitting the kneecap to run smoothly, stick the pedals on the bottom of the feet and Voila! The beginning of a scaly legged, lanky, unicycle riding chicken.

I guess it should have a body...