I was coming up on the home stretch for this build.
This was good because Christmas was rapidly approaching.
3/4″ walnut dowels gave eyes to the horse and a 3/4″ oak dowel would give Remi something to hold onto.
It was at this point that tragedy struck!
While I was sanding the rockers, I lost my grip and the the entire horse tipped over. The handle hit my work table and the force snapped the head off!
I just had to stare in disbelief! I do not even know how much time I had put into this project and now it was lying in front of me in pieces.
Unfortunately, I was in such a state that I didn’t even think to take a picture.
Rallying myself, I came up with a plan to put the horse back together.
I drilled holes in the two sections of body and inserted 1/2″ dowels and liberal amounts of glue.
The next problem I encountered was all of the rounded shapes. I could not use any of my bar clamps.
I decided to use a ratchet strap which worked very well. The horse spent the night in traction and with a little sanding the next day it was as good as new.
However, if I ever build another one, I will run the grain vertically on the neck area.
Next came some Minwax Golden Pecan stain.
I feel this gave the horse a beautiful rich color and still allowed the grain to shine through.
I then added three coats of hand rubbed poly with a light sanding between the first and second coats.
The ears came next.
I cut the ears out of stiff leather which I glued and wrapped around a dowel.
I drilled holes above the eyes, added some glue and inserted the ears.
I made the saddle out of black walnut and used a oak dowel on each side to fasten it to the body of the horse.
I coated the saddle with the hand rubbed poly as well.
I made a simple jig for the mane.
For this horse, I used black jute.
The mane was fastened with a staple gun.
For the tail, I folded about 20 pieces jute over and wrapped an additional piece around the folded area forming a plug.
I drilled a hole in the hind quarters, added some glue and inserted the tail.
This little horse has lots of character!
I have to say that I am pretty happy with the way this turned out.
I couldn’t wait to give this gift to my granddaughter!
In part 5 I will talk about Remi and Christmas Morning.
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