Stitching horse from Farm Woodwork book

[Mulesaw]

After thinking about building a stitching horse from the old Farm Woodwork book for about half a year, I found the time this home period.

I had made the hardware while I was on the ship last time, so there was only the fun woodwork part left. 
The stitching horse follows the plans according to measurements, but I have made a sturdier frame by substituting the screwed connections for the stretchers with drawbored mortises and tenons. Likewise for the legs which are now taken through the seat and wedged in place.

The seat is made out of discoloured beechwood which I think ads a bit character to an otherwise fairly dull wood. The legs and stretchers are made from ash, the clamp is made from elm and the foot operated lever is made from sycamore.

Now I just need to come up with a project that will give me an excuse for using the darn thing :-)

[YinTx]

That came out fantastic!  what a work of art!  going to be a joy for you to use.

YinTx

[fredk]

   That is really a most impressive bit of craftsmanship

[chuck123wapati]

excellent work !

[battlemunky]

Nice bit of kit you've made!

[tsunkasapa]

Very nice indeed!

[Bawarrior]

Awesome and with nobody's help. Great job

[bland]

Very nice!

[Mulesaw]

@YinTx Thanks for the nice words :-)

@fredk Thanks, you are much too kind :-)

@chuck123wapati Thanks, I can't compete with you in making of nice looking awls, so I had to think of something else :-)

 

[Mulesaw]

@battlemunky Thanks, I just need to find out where to put it :-)

@tsunkasapa Thanks, the plans in that little gem of a book are great, I especially like that the nice shape of the seat. 

[Mulesaw]

@Bawarrior Thanks, I have been very active in woodworking for almost 20 years, so stuff like this is easier for me to do than e.g. do a basket weave :-)

@bland Thank you very much :-) 

[laleyendabizzness]

Awesome  job! Are you possibly  thinking of making some for sale?

[PastorBob]

That is beautiful.  There is nothing better than forming something with your hands that turns out to be a nice piece of functional art.  Love the detail and finesse you put into this, especially the mortar and tenon joints.  Wow!!

[Mulesaw]

@laleyendabizzness Thanks, The idea of making one or two for selling has crossed my mind, but I am afraid that shipping from Denmark would be fairly expensive. But I could see at my local leather shop (Laederiet), that they had a deluxe version that was almost 900 $, and honestly it didn't look quite as good I think.

@PastorBob Thanks for the very nice words on the stitching horse. The mortise and tenon joints look good and are much stronger than the original suggested screwed connections, the only problem is that it means that all joints will have to come together at the same time! I have to admit that fitting 4 legs in sockets and 8 mortise and tenon joints for the stretchers all at the same time was stressful to me. 
But challenging yourself once in a while doesn't hurt (hopefully).

 

[toxo]

Great job and nothing to snag the thread. not easy to do. All it needs to be perfect is some kind of grab on the strap under the seat so you don't have to keep your foot on it.

[Mulesaw]

@toxo Thanks for the nice comment. I am not quite sure if I understand what you mean about the grab below the seat.

The foot operated lever holds the leather strap, and the lever itself is held in place by the sawtooth shaped retainer and the curved edge piece (for lack of a better word) it is what I tried to capture in picture No 2. 
So you don't have to keep your foot on it for holding the piece you are working on. You just press the lever down and engage it in one of the saw gullets that will correspond to the desired holding power and thickness of the material.

Were you thinking of some other type of holding system ?

Brgds

Jonas

[toxo]

15 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

@toxo Thanks for the nice comment. I am not quite sure if I understand what you mean about the grab below the seat.

The foot operated lever holds the leather strap, and the lever itself is held in place by the sawtooth shaped retainer and the curved edge piece (for lack of a better word) it is what I tried to capture in picture No 2. 
So you don't have to keep your foot on it for holding the piece you are working on. You just press the lever down and engage it in one of the saw gullets that will correspond to the desired holding power and thickness of the material.

Were you thinking of some other type of holding system ?

Brgds

Jonas

My bad Mule. Should've looked harder. Must've had a senior moment sorry.

[Mulesaw]

24 minutes ago, toxo said:

My bad Mule. Should've looked harder. Must've had a senior moment sorry.

No problem at all :-)

I was curious as if you had the idea to some other holding system that could be nice to have. Such as a grab-strap that would enable moving the entire stitching horse or something like that.
Cheers

Jonas

[JayEhl]

I think it's missing a beer can holder but other than that,  fantastic work!  

 

[Mulesaw]

@JayEhl 

Thanks for the nice words, I blame the missing beer can holder on the original drawings. Though I have to admit that I ought to have spotted that obvious mistake :-)

Brgds

Jonas

[AzShooter]

Magnificent work.  What a beautiful bench.  

[Mulesaw]

@AzShooter Thanks for the very kind words.  I almost feel guilty from admitting that for the first two days after building it, I couldn't walk past it without trying to sit on it and playing with the lever mechanism  and mounting all sorts of pieces of leather in and out of the clamp :-)

Brgds

Jonas

[Rbarleatherworks]

Good Morning

Beautiful work

I have a question ... does anyone know the reason that the clamp comes out of the seat on that angle? 

I have one but it comes up straight.  I don't use it much but when I do I think it works just fine so curious as to why this one is on an angle. 

Thanks for sharing

 

 

[Klara]

25 minutes ago, Rbarleatherworks said:

....

I have a question ... does anyone know the reason that the clamp comes out of the seat on that angle? 

....

I wonder whether that's so you can more easily see what you are doing? The other day I had to use (for the first time) my French clam, which rests on a thigh at an angle. When I went back to the stitching pony (vertical) for the next project, I was struck how I need to twist to see the stitch marks. 

(In case anyone wonders why I use both: I like the stitching pony because the leather is held in place without me having to pay attention. Unfortunately the bolt that holds both uprights together means that I don't have enough space for big projects. )

@Mulesaw Gorgeous work, for a while I was tempted to order one when you said you are in Denmark, but then I remembered that I don't need another piece of furniture...

 

[Mulesaw]

@Rbarleatherworks Thanks for the kind words :-)

Like Klara says, the idea behind the angled clamp is that it should make it easier to work on. This particular one is made for right handed people, and if it was canted the other way it would work better for left handed people. 

I just followed the design as it was given in the old book, but I figured that the old-timers probably knew what they were doing, so I didn't see any reason to try and change something unless I was certain it would be better. :-)

Brgds

Jonas