Animals have a natural tendency to wreck havoc on anything they can get there teeth on. Unless of course you know how to turn your used fire hose into a ball for your favorite animal to play with. Whether you have a household animal like a dog or a cat, or a zoo animal such as a elephant or big cat, making a indestructible ball is the way to go. With a toy like this, it will be hard to tear your Fire Hose ball apart! If a tiger can't do any damage, neither should your dog. Try to make your own ball at home by weaving strips of a used fire hose.
Tools:
- Fire Hose
- Power Drill
- Utility Knife
- ¾ Drill bits
- ¼ inch washer
- ¼ inch nut
- crescent wrench
What to do:
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Use a utility knife to cut six strips of hose. Each length should be 45 inches long.
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Using a power drill and ¾ inch drill bit, drill a ¾ inch hole into the center of each strip. It must be 2 inches from both ends of each strip.
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Place two strips directly next to each other and weave two of the other strips across the center of them. You can do this by tucking one strip under the left strip and then one over the right strip. Proceed by tucking the other strip under the right strip and over the left. Center the strips so they make a plus sign.
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Bring the ends of another used fire hose strip together to match up the drilled holes on the ends. Hold a ¼ inch washer over the hole and insert a bolt through the washer and both holes. Then screw a ¼ inch nut onto the end of the bolt and tighten with a crescent wrench. When you do this it creates a hoop. Do this one more time to create another hoop with your last 45 inch strip.
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Place the ring directly over the woven center of the four strips. From each of the four directions around the woven center, pull one of each of the strip through the bottom of the hoop, leaving the other four strips in place. Pull every other strip in through the hoop.
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Wrap the remaining uncut length of your fire hose into two separate 10 layer coils. You might find that you have more than you need to wrap the fire hose around itself 10 times, if this is the case then simply cut of the excess with a utility knife and use the hose on another project!
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Put one coil inside of the hoop and the pulled up strips of woven fire hose. Stack the second coil over the first coil.
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Place the second hoop around the second coil and bring the strips from the bottom, these strips should have been left flat, and pull them up through the hoop between the hoop and the coil.
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Take two opposite strips and pull the ends together and bolt them through the drilled end holes you did when you fastened the hoop ends together. The ends will fall rest tightly on top of the ball.
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Look at the strips you just fastened, and pull up the strip directly to the right of that, and bring it together with the strip that is directly opposite. You are going to want to bolt them together.
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Once you have done this you will want to bring up thestrip directly to the left of the original strip and bolt it to the strip that is opposite.
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You're on the last step! You are almost there. You cane make it to the end, UsedFireHoses has complete faith in you! The final stage is to tuck the final two strip ends under the other bolted strips. Use vice grips to help you pull the strips under the woven fire hose. This will eliminate a visible bolt which would potentially hurt an animals teeth. So remember not to let the bolts be visible.
Tips:
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Try adding rosemary for cats in the ball!
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You may also put meat in the weave if you want to get your animal to play with the ball.
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Hang on a spring cable for tigers, lions etc.
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For big cats, another strip of used fire hose should be added as a sheath to hide the chain and protect their teeth.
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Elephants will toss and kick these balls, so make sure they are secure!
