Carousel horse plaques

[phil_o]

I just completed 12 plaques for a carousel horse project I am a volunteer for. Each plaque is 9" in diameter.

[tuck]

What material and how long to cut each one, Phil?

[phil_o]

I used three different materials. 6 are made of cherry, 4 are made of poplar and 2 are made of mdf. Each took an hour and twenty minutes of machining.

Phil

[cabindoors]

Phil,

I'm interested in how they will be used and for what purpose.

Tom

[phil_o]

The city we live in, Pittsfield, MA has a group of volunteers who are building a carousel for the city to enjoy. The project has been underway for almost three years. Hopefully in two more years we will have a completed carousel. The carousel will have 36 horses all built from scratch. The bodies, neck, head, legs and tail all start as 2" x random width bass. We glue up the parts, band saw the shape and then the hand carving begins. All of the horses are then hand painted and eventually installed on a refurbished carousel mechanism.
All of the funding for the project is from private donations.
Our web site has more details. http://www.berkshirecarousel.com/
The plaques I made are for the fundraising.
I've attached a few pictures of completed horses.

[kurt_rose]

Thats absolutely to cool! Man! It looks like a lot of fun to. The kids are going to love it. How many carvers are involved?
The link isn't working for me.

[myxpykalix]

I have seen shows where guys handmake these carousel horses and the amount of hand carving and craftsmanship that goes into one of these things is amazing. The main thing i don't like about carving is the "patience factor":).
It seems like weeks or months of work to get something finishd and I think i would get frustrated long before the end, so hats off to these guys because it definitely is beautiful work.

[phil_o]

The patience factor is a big deal. Each horse has approximately 800 - 900 hours of work involved. Fortunately this is a group effort. I'm not sure how many volunteers are involved, probably 25 - 30 including the painters. We have one paid position, a master carver with a lot of experience building and carving carousel horses.
The link should be working now.

Phil

[myxpykalix]

800-900 hours? Thats strange, i have seen carving shows on tv where they get it done in 30 minutes...or am I missing a few steps?:rolleyes:

keep it up and its good to know that something will be enjoyed by generations of kids long after you are "dust in the wind"....:)