A Rocking Horse Blaze
I always wanted to build a rocking horse. It just seemed like a good project to take on, but the right moment never seemed to come along. Either I waited too long, and the child grew up, or I was just too tied up with other projects to take on such a project. Finally a great-nephew happened, and I just had to seize the moment. So I bought a plan from Lee Valley. If you don’t know of this chain of stores then you should google them. They sell all sorts of wonderful woodworking tools, gardening stuff, hardware, kitchen stuff, and unique gifts for the person who has “everything”.
Anyways – they had a plan…..
The next step was to transfer the plan drawings to some wood and then cut the pieces using a bandsaw.
Some special pieces were then cut so that the body of the horse would be stable, especially with a little person on board.
Add some eyes made from wood buttons – again from Lee Valley
A whole lot of sanding, two colours of stain, and many coats of polyurethane later, it’s starting to look like a proper rocking horse.
A mother-of-pearl blaze was added to the horse’s forehead. Inlay certainly adds panache to many of my projects. It’s definitely not restricted to just musical instruments.
Finally a mane, some ears, and a leather saddle were added. Jane, my sister-in-law did a great job on stitching and fitting the saddle, and helping with the mane. Overall encouragement came from the whole family – by now everyone wanted the great-nephew to like the horse.
The finished rocking Horse:
Oh, and yes, the little guy seems to like the horse:
The picture says it all. He seems to know it’s his…..