Rocking horse

[John Rice]

I am planning on making a rocking horse for my son. And hopefully all the kids that are to come in the future ;-). And would really like this to last for generations to come. With that being said I’m planning on making the rocking horse with light colored wood and have the accent pieces (harness, feet, pegs, etc) with a harder color like walnut. So my question is should I use hard maple or white oak or something else? Which would hold up the longest, accept stain better, easiest to work with and shape? I have done a good amount of woodworking in the last 3 years building furniture but have not used a lot of hard woods. So I am looking for some advice. Thanks!!

[Jim Becker]

Maple is always a good choice for projects like this because it's sturdy and smooth with minimal pore structure. Coloring it is best done with dye for that reason...a pigment stain like you find in the home center isn't a good choice for maple in most cases, IMHO. Using a contrasting wood for highlights like the harness as you mention is a great way to keep this as a great woodworking project. Do note that walnut gets lighter over time. BTW, soft maple is a perfectly valid choice for this as an alternative to hard maple. It's not "soft", per se, and is often quite economical.

[Michael A. Tyree]

Long ago when my 3 sons were small I designed a rocking horse and built it from framing SPF even though I had then and more so now, lots of hardwood around. Kids like to move toys about and a less heavy wood allows them to do so. My plan focused on safety as well, keeping the horse relatively small and close to the floor makes for good safety along with a rocker that has a wide stance and long enough arc to prevent spills. I doubt the lawyers would approve many designs Ive seen sold over the years? but it's worth keeping it as safe as possible.
If I was making one today, I'd use yellow poplar as I saw it from my own timber and it does what you need in that toy. Stains well too thus why its used commercially in decent furniture to replicate walnut and cherry.

[Mick Simon]

You could use pretty much any hardwood you like. I used cherry for this one I did for a friend's daughters several years ago. It's a Trojan rocking horse (piggy bank). The trap door is held shut with magnets and accessed by removing the saddle.

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[John Rice]

Appreciate the advice. I was almost thinking of just using an oil for the finish. Like Linseed or tung oil to keep the woods natural color but also add a little protection. Any advice with this?

[Keith Outten]

Most of the time when I use black walnut I used walnut stain to darken the wood and keep it from getting lighter through the years.

[Rick Potter]

When I made a rocking horse for my first grandkid (now 31), I used the WOOD mag plan, and made a prototype out of construction lumber, so I could sort out details, like the seat shape, etc.

The wife liked it, and had me make a dozen more, for all the nieces and nephews, any of which was better made than the prototype. When I asked her which one she wanted to keep...she chose the proto, "because it's the first one you made".

Lesson learned, now any proto's are made of particle board.

Confession: That example of 'fine woodworking' has been in our living room for 31 years, and 200+ pound grandkids still sit on it at Christmas parties....and it has a big knot right in the middle of one of the runners. Go figure.

[John Rice]

Rick,

If I make this and it is still in the family 31 years later it would be an honor let alone the wife allowing it to be in the living room!!

Has anyone put a finishing coat on it or just left it as is? I would think Poly wouldn’t hold up to the years of abuse?

[Jim Becker]

Do don't "need" finish on well sanded wood, John. It will stay cleaner, however, if you do put on at least a few coats of something that seals it up. Something thin and wipe on will not kick up much of a sheen but will help control the dirt over time.

[Rick Potter]

I stained it with Minwax, in whatever tone was on the bench. It was probably 'Early American', because I was working on a kitchen at that time. I sprayed it with a coat of Poly, and that is all that was ever done to it.

I went wild with some of the better ones. I remember staining one blue, and one green for the intended recipients.

[John K Jordan]

I am planning on making a rocking horse for my son. And hopefully all the kids that are to come in the future ;-). And would really like this to last for generations to come. With that being said I’m planning on making the rocking horse with light colored wood and have the accent pieces (harness, feet, pegs, etc) with a harder color like walnut. So my question is should I use hard maple or white oak or something else? Which would hold up the longest, accept stain better, easiest to work with and shape? I have done a good amount of woodworking in the last 3 years building furniture but have not used a lot of hard woods. So I am looking for some advice. Thanks!!

I don't think the wood type matters much as the design and the appropriate size.

I made this when my oldest son was a baby. He's almost 50 now. It's been through three sons, two grandsons, and lots of visiting kids. Some of the leather is gone now (it had a nice bridle, reins, perky ears, etc. The braided tail is still intact.)

I built it from 4/4 shelving pine.

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This thing is still used a LOT. It's light enough for small kids to move it around. Small enough for toddlers, strong enough for playful teens!

BTW, the shape of the ends of the runners provides tipping control.

JKJ

[Keith Outten]

Many people add a light fixture or magazine racks (side saddle) to rocking animals when the children are grown. Some of the Wooden Memories plans include plans for adding one or both and they can be easily removed when the grand children arrive.

[Prashun Patel]

Oak (red or white) is economical and easy to stain. It will be heavier though than pine. Pine is light, easy to work, and can stain fine if you use a gel stain. IMHO, maple is to worst of both worlds: not as easy to stain as oak, and heavier than pine.

Walnut and cherry provide good color contrast without staining, but they will be expensive vis-a-vis pine and red oak.

One bit of learned advice: don't make a tail, unless it's strictly, dangling hair like Mick's steed. A rigid tail will break off faster than you can say "Giddyup".

[John Rice]

I truly appreciate everyone’s input. I probably should have included a picture of what I’m trying to accomplish. Here is a link.

https://toymakingplans.com/antique-1890-rocking-horse/

So my plan as of now is white oak with walnut for the contrast pieces.

-I guess I will use a light stain on the oak to highlight the grain more. Or possibly an oil to keep it natural? And probably just walnut stain on the walnut. Then spray a couple light coats of Poly on it.

[Ben Abate]

I’ve built a few for family and friends with all kinks of wood. This group I did last for Christmas has multiple woods used. Two of the bodies are maple and one is pine. Most all other details are walnut. I carved the seats from solid walnut or maple and inlaid the other parts. The bodies are held together with Dominos. In the past I used dowels

my apologizes for the pictures being turned. Also the rockers are all salted maple. I have a lot of it so that’s what I used

[Gilbert Vega]

I did this a few years back in Mesquite. I also carved a horses head for a broomstick horse.

[Ben Abate]

Gilbert

beautifully done.

[Keith Outten]

Many beautiful horses in this thread built by talented people. I have always been fascinated by the variety of designs people come up with and how many rocking style animals are created. My Dad and I built one mare, five burros, one goat, one bull and the clydesdale horse I have not completed. We made only one hay wagon but I still have the plans for the Conestoga wagon and the oxen team to pull it that I may never get the chance to build.

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This is Miss Virginia 2001 and Pepe The Burro at the Guinea Jubilee in Gloucester Virginia. Pepe now belongs to my grand daughter, a birthday gift I gave her a couple of years ago. The trailer we used was setup as a portable photo studio, we used to take pictures of kids at local events. We had four to five animals on the trailer so kids could select the one they wanted and get their picture taken. Their parents could go to our web site that night and download high resolution pictures of their children for free. We did this for several years and kept adding animals so we developed a following from parents bringing their children to get a picture with our newest animal.

Note that we had to remove the rockers because the kids wouldn't sit still for the pictures :)

My goat William and me in 1998, he belongs to me, lives in my shop office. :)

[Mel Fulks]

Keith, I love it. Even though you "glossed over" the details. With just a little change in horn design you would have a
great hat rack ! I'm guessing OSHA over ruled that.

[Keith Outten]

A hat rack for William would be very useful in my office. I will give that some serious thought :)

Maybe this evening I will be able to find the drawing of the light fixture and the magazine racks and share them. They would most likely help someone who has a rocking animal that is inactive that might find some ideas useful.

[Mel Fulks]

I'm also impressed with your efforts to entertain children at those events. They can be a tiring long walk without
some kind of fun.

[Keith Outten]

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I can't find a better picture of our trailer setup right now but I know that I have some tucked away somewhere.
As you can see we also took pictures of children that were still young at heart. Some preferred to sit on the animals and some didn't :)

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This is the magazine rack for the burro, I haven't found the lamp plans yet. I wish I had better pictures to share but I think you can tell that the rack is basically a saddle bag design.

I just found out that I have more plans than i remembered, I found GranPa's Tractor, a manure spreader, a pig and the camel. There are also a full set of garden knome plans as well. The guy from Wooden Memories was very talented and he had a whole library of plans that I never ordered.

I just realized that every one of the hundreds of children that I took pictures of on my animals are adults today! Geez the time fly's by so fast.

I started a Photo Gallery of rocking animals plus and will add pictures when I can. https://sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=936