Stitching horse and pony

[Tae]

Six months ago, I was motivated to build a stitching horse. I liked Dale Grabowski's Sit 'N Stitch and the only requirement I had was that I'd use my old motorcycle brake pedal for something.

I made a small version first and scaled it up. After a gazillion trips to Home Depot and OSH, it's done.

Check it out! I'm stitching/lacing everything I see!

Tae

[sheridanman]

nice work! i really like the way you did it with the brake pedal really creative!----sheridanman

[TroyS]

Just moved into our new house! Building my workshop now! A Stitching Horse & Pony are two things that are definately going into the shop! Any chance you have a blueprint and parts list you'd like to share? Nearest Home Depot is 20 miles away! hahaha That is awesome!

[Tae]

Just moved into our new house! Building my workshop now! A Stitching Horse & Pony are two things that are definately going into the shop! Any chance you have a blueprint and parts list you'd like to share? Nearest Home Depot is 20 miles away! hahaha That is awesome!

Thanks! Here is the orig. plan, but I've made changes along the way. In the beginning, I made all pieces out of pine, but the square base piece cracked and the surface of the 2' base piece was warped. So I did surgery and replaced the square piece with oak and added a circular base. Also, I planed and sanded the 2' base piece and added a 1" oak board for flatness. In addition:

• Jaws: I made them out of pine, but in retrospect, I should have made it all out of oak. The left over wobble is the bend in the pine jaws that I have to live with.

• The intermediate piece is out of two (not one as in the diagram) glued square pieces of 1" oak

• I added a circular base below that (see photo)

• The 2' base piece was initially out of pine, but it wasn't flat enough, so I glued an oak piece, cut it at 75 degrees with my circular saw and sanded down the edges. In fact, I like that it's 2.5" thick. Th swivel idea was good on paper, but doesn't work too well, so I tighten the nut all the way.

• In the future I will not use chrome acorn nuts. They cost me like $20 for what you see!

• I use a leather strap. It's nice because the friction makes it stay, but in the same regard, it doesn't spring open as easily. I have to help it open by loosening the strap in the middle with my fingers. I kinda like this setup because then I don't need a racket scheme

• I added wooden cabinet handles. It makes moving it easier and it's handy since I can stick my stitching awl in there when I stitch

• I added rubber feet so they don't slip around carpet or scratch wooden floors.

• I added and modded U-bolts for the strap by cutting them shorter with my dremel tool with cut-off discs.

• I added a wingnut (with leather handles!) just in case I really want to hold it shut without my foot pressing the pedal.

In retrospect, I probably spent more than $125 that buys a stitching horse from Mr. Grabowski, but it was fun!

For materials I've bought everything at home depot (except chrome acorn nuts, avail at osh)

• one 2"x10"x8' piece of pine

• one 1"x10"x6' piece of oak

• 4 U bolts with chrome acorn nuts

• 1 3/4"x8" carriage bolt with wing nut and chrome acorn nut and 3 washers

• 3 1/2"x3" carriage bolts with nuts and washers

• wood glue

• one stainless steel door hinge

• one set of L brace (I think 2"x2") that I bent slightly using a vise and hammer to match the tilt of the pony

• one 6"x6" bracket that I cut short fit in the circular base

• two 6" mending brace

• compression spring

• one left-over leather strap that was tapered slightly from 3/4" to 1/2" along the way

• set of screw on rubber feet

• 4 screws

• 2 wooden handles

• cherry pecan stain

• semi-gloss polyurethane

• leather to cover the jaws -- I used contact cement

For tools, I used

• circular saw

• jig saw

• hand plane

• corded drill with sanding attachment

• various drill bits

• dremel tool with cut off disc

• angle grinder (to round the edges of the cut-off bolts) -- kinda unnecessary

Have fun!

Tae

Edited July 22, 2008 by Tae

[Tae]

Thanks! Here is the orig. plan, but I've made changes along the way. In the beginning, I made all pieces out of pine, but the square base piece cracked and the surface of the 2' base piece was warped. So I did surgery and replaced the square piece with oak and added a circular base. Also, I planed and sanded the 2' base piece and added a 1" oak board for flatness. In addition:

• Jaws: I made them out of pine, but in retrospect, I should have made it all out of oak. The left over wobble is the bend in the pine jaws that I have to live with.

• The intermediate piece is out of two (not one as in the diagram) glued square pieces of 1" oak

• I added a circular base below that (see photo)

• The 2' base piece was initially out of pine, but it wasn't flat enough, so I glued an oak piece, cut and sanded it down. In fact, I like that it's 2.5" thick. Th swivel idea was good on paper, but doesn't work too well, so I tighten the nut all the way.

• In the future I will not use chrome acorn nuts. They cost me like $20 for what you see!

• I use a leather strap. It's nice because the friction makes it stay, but in the same regard, it doesn't spring open as easily. I have to help it open by loosening the strap in the middle with my fingers. I kinda like this setup because then I don't need a racket scheme

• I added wooden cabinet handles. It makes moving it easier and it's handy since I can stick my stitching awl in there when I stitch

• I added rubber feet so they don't slip around carpet or scratch wooden floors.

• I added and modded U-bolts for the strap by cutting them shorter with my dremel tool with cut-off discs.

• I added a wingnut (with leather handles!) just in case I really want to hold it shut without my foot pressing the pedal.

In retrospect, I probably spent more than $125 that buys a stitching horse from Mr. Grabowski, but it was fun!

Tae

[Luke Hatley]

FINE LOOKING WORKMANSHIP.............