C1880 G J Lines Bow rocker restoration

[yaryetnom]

Hi All,

I picked up this horse yesterday to restore it back to original appearance.

More to follow.

Ray

[yaryetnom]

It is in very poor condition, most of the glue has failed.

The neck s broken about half way up & a couple of home repairs were done making it much worse.

There are breaks around the mortices for the leg tenons.

And the list goes on.

Looking forward to the challenge.

Ray

[yaryetnom]

Making progress. The neck break had been repaired with some heavy duty hardware, however the neck muscle blocks had been cut through which meant no support & it was wobbling around & had to come apart. Turned the horse into a jigsaw puzzle.


Photos of where I am up to.

[auscab]

Great project Ray! And Im loving these pictures .
Its such an interesting aspect seeing one in bits.
A great opportunity to learn how to build a nice one if you wanted.
The hollow body and tenons on the legs are interesting. I see holes in some of the tenons. Had someone put Nails through them later or were they pegged originally ?
Id love to see the mortises for them . Any lay out lines where they were marked out to see?
Whats the timber ? looks like Red pine .

Rob

[yaryetnom]

Hi Rob


The hollow body is a standard design.
The mortise & tenon varied between manufactures. The ones I make have the legs fitted into a compound rebate cut into the bottom body box, then fixed with glue & screws. A muscle block is then glued over the join. Photo attached.
The tenons were normally glued & a nail driven up beside the tenon into the body. There were no nails or pegs through these ones, but may have had them on a previous restoration.
No layout of the mortice but I have a photo of the bottom block on its side with the wall showing the rest of the mortice. The front legs were a different set up.
Not sure what the timber is.

Ray

[yaryetnom]

Here is a front leg mortice. Sorry for the dodgy photo. You can see where a nail was hammered in. This caused a split that I repaired with glue & dowel

[yaryetnom]

Moving along rough shaping done ready for blending into existing body. Detected a couple more spots that need to be cut & filled. I could use a filler but prefer to have glued in timber.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

That is a great horse, it has a lot of expression on its face - like a carousel horse. I'm enjoying reading about it.

I 'restored' (to useable condition only) a 1940s rocking horse for my children about 40 years ago, but it started out in better condition than this one so wasn't such a challenge. Ours is the type that swings on two U shaped iron "hoops" and were made here in Australia but I can't remember the maker.

David

[yaryetnom]

Hi David,

Yes the flared nostrils & dished face were a feature on Lines horses of this era.
The main Aussie makers were:
Roebuck Sydney
Bartlett Melbourne
Lou Peets Brisbane although not to the same extent as the other 2.

Ray

[yaryetnom]

Just finished this one. C1920s Roebuck size 2. (small horse) Can now concentrate on the Lines one.

Wasn't as challenging as the Lines one.

[yaryetnom]

Gessoing started today on the Lines horse using traditional rabbit skin glue & whitning . Wait for this to dry & then sand back to a smooth finish. (I hope)

It is a messy business.

[yaryetnom]

First undercoat done today. Shows up some fine cracking in the gesso, so will sand again & see how they look after another undercoat. Undecided about top coat. Maybe water based enamel or enamel. Despite a lot of sanding still not new horse smooth but I guess for it's age it is alright.

[Ozcee]

Looks like a challenge Ray but then that's why we do these things Hey? Good work man.

[Rodneywt1180b]

You do some great work. Fast too. If it was me I'd still be puzzling out how I should start.
Neat project. I'll keep checking in.

[yaryetnom]

Thanks mate. It is now slow time waiting for the kit to dress it in.

[yaryetnom]

Been away travelling but back on the job. In final stages just waiting for the hair. I ended up making the saddle as the supplier is very time poor. Daughter is sewing edges on the saddle cloth then the tack can be finished apart from the crupper strap.

I find at this stage I am asking myself if I could have done some things a bit better.

That tail is borrowed from the doll size supplies.

[yaryetnom]

Just need to wax the rocker.

Ended upmaking the leather work myself. Paid someone to sew the edges on the saddle cloth.

Hair is cow tail. Had a longer piece for the mane but hadn't been tanned properly & hair was falling out.

Ray

[pker]

Brilliant job , you're a multi talented person & the restoration is a credit to you.
chris

[yaryetnom]

Thanks Chris this was my first major restoration & just made it up as I went along, although I get some great advice from other restorers.

With the leather work I was fortunate to be shown how to do that by Bill Webb who is one of the best. https://billwebb.com.au/

Bill saw that I was using imported English stuff & invited me to his place for a day of instruction.

Ray

[Rodneywt1180b]

Really beautiful work!

[yaryetnom]

Really beautiful work!

Thank you.

I have just spent the weekend at the Millmerran Camp Oven Festival.

This is the only photo I have.