Building a wooden slide

Hi all

I plan to build a slide for my son. It will be made of wood. I know they can be made of wood, because when I was a kid, before the plastic invasion really got into full swing, we had a wooden slide, as I'm told did my wife. I know they worked.

But I have one question. As wood is inherently not very slippy, how do you make them work as a slide?

I seem to remember my dad periodically scrubbing a big candle onto our slide, thus waxing the wood to make it slidey, but surely there is a better way.

Any ideas?

 

DH reckons to varnish with a yacht varnish or just a varnish that isn't soft (!) and get the children to wear nylon clothes when they use it. Don't choose a wood that is likely to splinter.

 

A good coat of yacht varnish and then spray it well with Mr Sheen, it will be very slippery then!!!

Val

 

I'm tending to think, if its outside in all weathers your going to need to recoat it fairly regularly. and splinters could be an issue.

Just a thought, I'm not too good on this kind of thing, but, maybe you could make it and then cover the slide area with something like formica.

You then have a splinter free surface that would just need the occasional shine up.

 

Ahh, memories of going to Cornwall when I was little, spent ages waxing my wooden surfboard, got to Perranporth but there was no surf up so decided to slide down a sand dune on it.

One slide was enough to sand it back to bare wood:DOH:

 

Just a note, but if you are thinking of using yacht varnish, it's worth remembering that a polyurethane varnish merely coats the surface of the wood, (as opposed to being absorbed into it) and therefore, as the wood beneath naturally expands and contracts it is going to flake off eventually - that said, you can get 'flexible' yacht varnishes (with UV filters) which will last about 3 years.

If you're prepared for some hard work, and a longer lasting finish, the best thing would be to make the slide from hardwood (much finer grain than a softwood), then sand it, starting with a fairly coarse glass (sand) paper and gradually working down to 0000 steel wool, applying a coat of Danish or Tung oil (which will raise the grain) between each sanding.

By the time you get to the steel wool, you'll have a super-smooth surface and the oil will have been absorbed into the wood.