Special Edition for Plastic-Free July

My kids had been pestering me about getting a slide for ages, but I did not want to buy an expensive plastic one that at some point in the future would inevitably end up in landfill or somewhere worse due to long-term UV degradation and/or wear and tear. So I decided to make one out of wood and steel instead.

I had an off-cut of galv sheet leftover from flashing the flue for my new wood burner that I decided to use to make the slide. I figured out how I wanted it bent and took it to the boys at Steelform Wanganui. For a box of beer they bent it for me. (Chur Barnsey)

Then I found some wood diverted from landfill by Reclaimed Timber Traders in Palmerston North that suited the dimensions I needed.

I made the base for the slide out of pine and rimu

As Kevin McCloud would say, “This needs to be millimetre perfect.”

In the end it was the perfect compliment to the fort I made for them out of 100 year-old totara fence battens and driftwood on an existing garden structure.

And a great compliment to the driftwood swing set I made a year earlier.

Happy Plastic-Free July everyone!

Peace, Estwing