Saturday, December 23, 2017

Dad's Rocking Horse

While I was in Nevada I got to see this old rocking horse at my sister's place.
This one was built for my nephew, who now himself is a grown adult. My sister keeps it as a memento of his childhood, and as a keepsake of something my dad made.
I can't say for sure, but I think this project was the one that sparked my interest in woodworking. I remember helping my dad build a few of these when I was a young teenager.
Dad's method was to use the parts of a disassembled one as a pattern. He would cut it out of 1x6s or 1x8s with a jig saw, and use lots of sandpaper and Elmer's wood glue.

In fact, I think he built another group of these recently, one for his great-grandson.
I think it probably was painted with exterior house paint, and the details were painted on by my mom.
Looking at it now, with a bit more knowledge of how wood works in a project like this, I am impressed with the simplicity of the design. Likely the horse is attached to the rockers with screws, and the rockers themselves were just traced onto a board and cut out. I found a repair on one of the rockers - the rocker had split and cracked along the grain, and someone had glued it back in place and reinforced it with dowels. A nice repair.
Maybe someday I will build my own version of this rocking horse. It looks like a fun project. If anyone else would like to build it for their own family's use, I would love to see a picture.
Enjoy, and have a Merry Christmas!

4 comments:

  1. Awesome
    These are the projects that lives on forever, in our heart and as cherished objects to pass on in the family.

    Wherever this find you, Brian, have a great holiday with your love ones

    Bob and Rudy wagging his tail

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    1. Hey Bob!

      I must apologize, as I responded to your post while I was traveling, and it must have been lost in the black hole of Blogger.

      Thanks for the reply. I agree, that this project, in particular, has always meant a lot to me.

      I hope your holidays were as nice as mine were!

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  2. I remember my dad making a similar one for my sister who is 9 years younger than me. it too seemed to be an introduction to the cool things that could be made from wood. I wonder what ever happened to that, I'm sure it was passed on to other cousins, but I wonder where/if it resides today. Thanks for sharing an interesting bit of history.

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    1. My Dad has probably made 20 of these over the years and given them to friends and relatives. This is the only one that I know of {besides the ones he just made}, that still survives.

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