28-01-2019, 05:12 PM
1
Rocking Horse Rescue.
Having made a brace of fully carved rocking horses for my kids when they were small, a former colleague gave me a "box" rocking horse in need of some TLC and asked me to restore it and give it to charity on completion. Made by a company called Leeway between the 20s and 70s, it sadly had several bits missing.Part way through the work my Lovely Cousin decided she wanted to keep it, so I did a more detailed job than originally planned and signed up to make monthly payments to GOSH in order to keep my end of the bargain about giving something to charity.
I made new parts and purchased others ready made along the way. This model would not originally have had any tack as it had metal handles, would have had a much simpler saddle, and would probably have had painted/transfer eyes
Here is Pippa the Pony's journey back to health.
On the stocks. Dusty, rusty, missing a few bits, and suffering from poor previous attempts at repair.
Bitten on the bum!
Making new cross pieces for the stand.
Ferrous and fur, but no tail.
Oil blueing; putting my O - Level Metalwork to good use. Heat the iron parts until cherry red ...
and boil 'em in oil!
… thus giving the metal a thin protective coating.
Oil blued swing-iron bearer fitted to the stand.
I had to make new swing-iron brackets as the previous ones had been lost before I got the horse.
Brackets fitted to the completed stand, with original handles and stirrups blued and painted, and refurbished runners standing by.
Stripping and sanding in progress.
Re-gluing the delaminated plywood "box".
Priming and filling.
On dummy runners, light grey top coat completed ready for dappling. Picture of our eldest's horse on my lappy to copy the dappling pattern.
Dappling in progress.
Dappling finished and stirrups fitted.
Sourcing material to make the Bit.
The Bit rough finished.
Locally purchased leather cut roughly to size for the saddle and harness.
Reins, harness, and bit, ready to fit.
Detail of head showing original handles and original mane, new glass eyes, painted ears and nostrils, and new reins, harness, and bit.
Original mane and new tail. I have no idea what the original tail would have looked like so I bought a synthetic one to go with the mane that is made in the style of a tiny hessian backed stitched rug.
New saddle.
I was particularly pleased that I was able to salvage the original manufacturer's transfer.
Finished at last. Pippa, with Ellie coming to play.
It has been a labour of love and now stands proud in our extension.
Right my dear, what's my next project?
28-01-2019, 05:38 PM
4
Re: Rocking Horse Rescue.
Originally Posted by Longdogs
->
Wow! What a fantastic job Fruitcake. I think he is great. I see your dog photobombed too.
I've been told by The Chancellor of the Handbag that He is a She.
Despite being intimate with said horse over the last few months, I was not previously aware of the horse's gender. 
28-01-2019, 07:54 PM
10
Re: Rocking Horse Rescue.
To complete the story this is Rocky, the first horse I made for our eldest when he was about five. The dummy is called Tom and he moved in when I married my Cousin.
This is Harriet who I made for our youngest a few years later.
You can't really see on the pictures, but the heads are turned in opposite directions. They are also made from different types of wood but still using traditional methods. This included covering the carved horse in size made form rabbit skin glue, and gesso which is made from the same glue mixed with guilders whiting.
This is the what old fashioned ornate picture frames are made of. It sets as hard as teeth and is very durable around careless kids.
I used a book to teach myself to carve, make the saddle and harness, gessoing, plus making jigs to bend the swing-irons, make the swing-iron brackets, and make the parts of the bit.
Luckily I kept the book, jigs, and patterns for all the individual wooden blocks after making Rocky, so making Harriet was much easier.
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