Remembering the old days

[Smokey]

I sure didn't say "The GOOD old days"--I still remember those cold mornings and the sore cold feet and fingers, harnessing those guys.

[Blinky Bill]

G'day Smokey,
great job on these, can almost hear the teamster calling his encouragement. Can I ask what size they are, and did you make the harness? But in any case, well done and thanks for sharing.
John

[tnartist05]

Oh WOW! Smokey,VERY well done,plus the detail plus the finish on the horses are just right! Man,just a all around great carving and yes it brings back the olden days prefect. Forrest

[Smokey]

The Horses are carved from Butternut and are 6"high and 7.5"long,the Sled is carved from Wild Black Cherry and is as close to scale and design as I can remember. Yes the Harnesses are handmade of Elk leather(cow hide was to course to cut 1.5mm wide), chains and all rivets are brass. The assemblage is about 7"high and 18"long. The Horses took a few days to carve--the sled another day--the harnesses took a full month.

[Merle Rice]

Hi Smoky, Sure do like your Carvings they look so real. 3 Days to do the Carving is fast. Thanks for sharing them with us. Merle

[Tom-H]

Smokey, Excellent carved scene! I really enjoy seeing this kind of project. Thanks for sharing..Tom H

[Al_Hillis]

Great job Smokey, I too was raised with a team of Clydes on the farm and cut and loaded my share of Maple ,oak , and cherry for transport to the mill and fire wood to keep our butts warm during an Ontario winter. One thing I would suggest is putting a britchen on the harnesses. would be easier for the team to stop the load . LOL

[tucker1931]

Smokey, what a wonderful carving, so very realistic, and you certainly had great thoughts on how to photograph your handi work, very creative.
Cliff

[Thor]

What a treat to see this. The photos are such a great presentation too!
Very good carving.
Thor

[Curly Early]

Smokey, Great carving and great pictures. After going to some horse pulls, it appears to me, they are breaking the load "loose". Pulling together is so important, some teams see-sawed and couldn't move the load. One thing I noticed was that the horses enjoy what they are doing, when the driver swung the team around to the load, the helper, or hooker had one chance to make the hook, because when those horses heard the clank of hook iron to sled, they took off. One hooker missed the connect and the team yanked him quite a ways, then someone ran in front of the team to help stop them. Talk about brave, only thing that kept me from doing it was that tall fence in front of the bleachers, Yeh, Right LOL . My friend, a true hillbilly said, If you put that guy in a smarts contest with a pet rock, some times the rock'ed win. Well, my brain went faster than my fingers, sometimes its the other way, I really like the way you have the horses working together, and doing leather myself, I really appreciate the effort that went into making their harness. A very well done project. Earl