What's on The Bench Today....Wooden Rocking Horses.....A lost Art
Have you ever gone out to the store and tried to buy a wooden rocking horse. They just don't seem to be around anymore. I have seen plenty of plastic ones out there but not the "Heirloom" Rocking horses of years ago. I still have my rocking horse from when I was little and used it as a pattern to build these. My customers every now and then request a good solid wooden rocking horse, and typically those customers are the older generation buying them for their grandchildren and great grandchildren. This post is dedicated to "The Wooden Rocking Horse" !
The hardest part about making these, is that you have to have the rocker smooth, and just right so that the kids do not rock right over and tip. So it needs to have a bit of a flat surface and then the rounded part.
These are stained in an "Early American" I keep the parts that I assemble as a pattern so that when I build them again I just take out the pattern pieces and start cutting. I have been making this rocking horse for over 25 years, and never seems to get old.
The heads are finished with a rag mop that I simply buy from the dollar store, then untangle and cut to the length that I need. I drill a bunch of holes along the top and stuff the mop hair into them with some glue.
It is one of the popular pieces at Christmas. This last photo is a plain horse simply varnished.
I hope you have enjoyed my post, and I would be curious with the other woodworkers out there, have you made or had orders to make wooden rocking horses, over the years, or is it truly a dying art?
@canadianwoodguy Great job on these wooden horses.
Thank you
I have been looking for plans for a rocking horse for a while now. I have a very particular design in mind and have not found it yet. Like you it will be designed from the one my grandfather built for me. I have pics of it but it seems to be a one only horse....
It’s tough to find! Good luck
It's just that memory thing.... found an old pic of the horse
Very Nice Work! Enjoy Reading Your Articles And Seeing All OF The Neat Stuff You Are Building For People.
Why thank you for your kind words!
Amazing work there! Those rocking horses remind me of the one which my late granddad made for my brother and I when we were knee high to a grasshopper. I kept the horse and soon my son will be old enough to enjoy the ride. I will pull the thoroughbred out from storage and write a post on it and also so you can see how it was designed.....
I think these days unfortunately kids are more interested in the electronic gadgets and are missing out on the their imaginations so I think it is a dying art but, it's people like you who keep the old horse alive and kicking to bring joy into the little one's hearts. Good on you!
I like the design, they are ideal for batch production. I have never made one but I have sculpted and carved horses over the years. I really like horses as a subject from an artistic point of view. Thanks.
You are right about the wooden rocking horses being hard to find these days. For awhile my Dad was making wooden rocking horses and selling them at farmers markets.