Wooden Horse Head

I made a wooden horse head using a Kathy Wise pattern. Here is a photo of the final product and a photo of the book containing the pattern.

Wood I used:

**** head and neck -- cherry

**** mane, forelock and part of nose -- walnut

**** inner ear and small part of head and neck -- lace wood

**** tongue, eye, part of nose -- wenge

SAFETY

Making this horse head requires power tools, especially a scroll saw and sander.

Always remember -- SAFETY FIRST.

Hardwood (cherry, walnut, lace wood, wenge)

Super glue gel

Wood glue

Shellac

At a local copy store, I printed several copies of the pattern at the required size. Then I glued it to the wood paying careful attention to direction of grain. For gluing the pattern to wood, I used medium duty spray adhesive.

I used a scroll saw to cut the pieces of wood. Fitting them together is a challenge.

The pattern and instructions suggest that some pieces be raised a little higher than other pieces. This is done by adding shims to the bottom of those pieces that are to be raised.

Here I used a belt sander and a sanding mop to round over the pieces. The sanding mop is especially helpful in that it smooths over some flat spots left by the belt sander. I also hand sanded some pieces.

For gluing I used super glue gel and wood glue. Because of angles, it is not easy and sometimes not possible to use clamps, but I used clamps where I could. That's why super glue gel is so handy. Drying time is much faster than wood glue. After gluing, the piece must be allowed to dry thoroughly.

I filled some cracks between pieces with sawdust mixed with wood glue. I used walnut sawdust and cherry sawdust. After the glue is completely dry, lots of hand sanding is required.

For backer board, I used 1/4" birch plywood. I glued it on with a combination of super glue gel and wood glue.

On this piece I used a sawtooth hanger, but on other pieces I have used a D-ring hanger. For topcoat, I applied two coats of shellac.