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?