May 9, 2016
1678
Stan Kern always wanted to build a full-sized Merry-go-round-type horse.
This past winter, he did just that and now Penetangore the Horse is tied to the gate at his home on Penetangore Row South in Kincardine.
The retired Hydro worker moved to Kincardine in January, 1972, to work at Douglas Point with Ontario Hydro.
In 1982, he began Stan's Woodworking and built custom furniture for the next 20-25 years, including a lot of cabinets and grandfather clocks.
“I have built a few rocking horse and carved out many birds, but I always wanted to build a full-sized wooden horse,” says Kern.
In September, last year, he and his wife vacationed in Ireland and he saw three horses built from driftwood at a stud farm. “That's when I realized that I really wanted to do this project.”
When he returned home, he embarked on the lengthy process that began with a 24-inch, 3-D cardboard model, to a full-sized, one-quarter-inch plywood 3-D model, and then the full-scale, solid-wood Arabian horse.
“I worked on her through the winter,” says Kern. “It took me 104 hours, and I used 240 feet of 2X10 spruce. I knew it had to be softwood so I could shape it with grinders and chain saws.”
The final product was finished in March. She weighs 200 pounds, is 10.5 hands high, sits on a cart and graces the front gate with the name plate, “Penetangore,” because she lives on Penetangore Row South.
“The funny part in all this,” says Kern, “is I don't know anything about horses, so I had to research everything on Google."
To view the process, from a cardboard lasered model to a full-scale wooden horse, check the following videos on You Tube:
https://youtu.be/gouGlNAwAtU horse part 0
https://youtu.be/Wp8zcwZRHKI horse part 1
https://youtu.be/Uqnz1n_naqY horse part 2
https://youtu.be/bt23QqPRMqk part 3 shaping the horse
https://youtu.be/tY2nHkD03ek part 4 horse completed
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
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