Rocking Horse

This is my first rocking horse, made for my daughter’s first birthday. I used plans purchased at Woodcraft.

The body is made from 2 planks of ash (2” x 7.5” x 168”). The saddle and “stirrup straps” are mahogany with birds eye maple inlay. The dowels are all walnut and the hooves are mesquite.

From the time my wife and I decided that is what we wanted to give our daughter, I had a little less than 2 months to go from 2 planks of wood to the final project. It was a tight timeline, but I finished the final coat of lacquer the day before her birthday. It turned out better than either of us expected, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. I learned more lessons than I care to admit each stage of this project.

The most challenging part by far was the tapered legs because the amount of wood I needed to take off was more than my table saw or chop saw could handle. I was browsing LJ one day and came across a blog by mackcr (http://lumberjocks.com/mackcr/blog/30553), this was the ticket! I made up a similar jig and quickly took off all the wood I needed (Thanks mackcr!).

I finished the horse with 3 coats of BLO, 2 coats of 1lb cut shellac to seal, about 7 thinned coats of high gloss lacquer (sanding with 600 between each coat), and finished with one coat of satin lacquer. (I could have saved myself some time by not sanding between coats, but that is one of the many lessons I learned)

All in all, I think I had as much fun making this rocking horse as my daughter will have playing with it!

-- -- Andy, Naples Italy, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of liberty must undergo the fatigues of supporting it” - Thomas Paine