Thread: Rocking horses

I worked for a guy years ago doing RH's Camphor laurel looks great, and can look either dark or light depending on the slabe you get. We used to cut them out of slabs - the bigger the better for choice of grain, but then you'd need a thicknesser (or get someone to do it for you) to put each cut laminate through. You have to make sure each laminate is small enough to go through it. A 14 inch was what we used and that was just enough. We used car clamps set above a bench to join them with batton screws and glue. You have to know where the screws end up so you don't hit them later when carving back the excess in shaping the horse. There were some well hidden screws put through the inside of the upper thighs of the legs from the outside but the rest were all buried deep, as far as I remember. You need a medium weight wood, verging slightly on hard, that is good to carve. Pine, for instance, I would avoid, because when you get down to detail it will frustrate, but that depends on how much detail you are after.

Clare Nicholson is a member of the forum but I'm not sure what she is doing now as I haven't heard from her for a while. I never worked for Clare but she really has a gift.

The horse in this pic is in camphor, though she paints all hers.

Unbridled passion Gold Coast Top Story | goldcoast.com.au | Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Clare Nicholson