West Aussie,tassie Stitching Horse

[cem]

After finally having enough of sewing on that woeful Tandy pony for the last few years I decided to make my own stitching horse. I'm definitely not a wood worker by any means thinking yeah it will be alright to cut and sand wood in my leather work room ha ha ha big mistake that was, took two days to clean all the dust up.

Anyhow a little about the horse it's made with West Australian Jarrah (red looking wood) and Tasmanian woods (Myrtle,Huen Pine,Blackwood,Leatherwood,Celery Top Pine and Sassafras) for the top checker look. It's a hybrid of Al Stohlman design and the one with the rotating jaws on Cascity,I made it with straight legs though as it needs to fit in a certain spot in my room.

The rotating jaws work from brass tube going through a skate bearing that is recessed into the seat it has a nut at the top of the wood block that can be tightened to stop it rotating. Also made another couple of modifications with the scissor and thread holders. I left a bare space at the front in case I wanted to add any more tool holders at a later date

The Tasmanian wood is kind of special to me as I was with my sister when she picked it out from the mill in Tasmania when we did a trip there in 2007 with all the girls of my family. My sister on the other hand was a brilliant wood worker and had planned to make some cool stuff with it. Sadly she didn't get to and it was the last trip I got to do with her as she passed away from cancer in 2010. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the wood as there wasn't a lot there and with my limited skills but I wanted to tackle something myself with it, I think she would of liked it's end use though as she was the one who also got me interested in leatherwork.

Anyway here it is I hope it also might give some additional ideas for those who want to tackle making their own stiching horse.

[Hi Im Joe]

That is awesome. I think you are a bit self deprecating when it comes to your woodworking abilities!

[Constabulary]

very very well made - I´m quite impressed!

Go ahead and make some of them I´m sure they will sell very well!

I really like the checkered design!!!!

[WyomingSlick]

Anyway here it is I hope it also might give some additional ideas for those who want to tackle making their own stiching horse.

[

I believe your sister would heartily approve, and I think it is wonderful that you have built something to remind you of her every time you look at it.

Perhaps you could inform me of just why they call the wood, "leatherwood" ? That is, if you know. Please don't go to a lot of trouble finding out.....just if you happen to know....as is is just a trivial question.

[El Zipster]

I really like it! I too think you've understated your woodworking skills, it's a fantastic job and will give you many years of use i'm sure.

Cheers

Zip

www.zipsleather.com

[Macca]

nicely done !

[rcsaddles]

That is absolutely beautiful. I love the checkerboard look of the seat. I'm going to have to start collecting different woods to make something like that.

[mccottie]

AWSOME job, be proud of that!

[cem]

I believe your sister would heartily approve, and I think it is wonderful that you have built something to remind you of her every time you look at it.

Perhaps you could inform me of just why they call the wood, "leatherwood" ? That is, if you know. Please don't go to a lot of trouble finding out.....just if you happen to know....as is is just a trivial question.

Thankyou everyone for the kind words and to you Wyoming Slick thats just what I needed to read it has been a difficult few years without her as a lot of others can also attest to by losing someone to that horrible disease. My family also seemed to be pleased that the wood has been put to good use.

For the leatherwood from what I could find out, I was actually interested in the origins myself as it had the name written on it might be called leatherwood due to the waxy, leather coloured sheath that covers the young leaves and petals. The cut timber though is also pretty similiar in colour to the natual veg tan leather that the local tanneries used to produce so the general consensus seems to be that it's from the colour.

I had fun building it but I'm not sure I could make more to sell it would mean my leather work room would be eternally covered in wood dust as I don't have anywhere else to build things, I would love to see someone else build a checkerboard design though with their local woods as I reckon some would be absolutely stunning. If anyone wants any pointers though such as on the opening/closing mechanism I would be happy to help out.

[dcobranding]

I'm baffled that this post doesn't have 100 pages of comments.

This is seriously nice! I would be proud to claim that as my woodworking project. Fantastic job.

[Not Awl Together]

That is really fine work and stunning to look at. You certainly have a keen eye for design and detail.

Congrats on such a fine project. I'm glad to have caught up with this thread

Regards,

N.A.T.

[howie696]

Really good work, makes me proud to be a fellow West Aussie

[Feraud]

A really wonderful piece of woodworking!!

[camano ridge]

Here is information on the Tasmanian Leatherwood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucryphia_lucida , there is also a North American leatherwood which is a totaly different species. Very nice well thought out and lots of work put into it.

[cem]

Thanks guys, it's definitely been getting a lot of use and I quite enjoy sewing now much easier than using that tiny pony thing.

Edited June 7, 2014 by cem

[walkg]

Great woodworking, great design and am sure your sister would be proud of it. Make great use of it and your skills.