2023 Update – Originally Published October, 2018
Focusing today a little bit less on home construction and instead on “really cool things you can do with your workshop band saw,” I thought I’d share a project I did when my daughter was younger. I built her a wooden old-time-looking rocking lion, and it’s still with us today – decorating our home. It’s a really fun project and super inexpensive, plus it’s gotten quite a lot of attention over the years.
Not a rocking horse? Nope. A wooden rocking lion… `cause lions, IMHO, are just cooler!
Above is a photo of my finished rocking lion – and in the the remainder of this article, I’ll describe more about the construction effort (the workshop tools & supplies) and provide lots of additional photos…
My Workshop Bandsaw
My band saw is a Craftsman model, and if I were to guess I’d say it’s about 50 years old. It came to me when I was working at a company that was trying to sell-off the assets from an old machine shop. I entered a raffle, and I got the chance to purchase my band saw dirt cheap. I brought it home, cleaned it up and rehabbed it a bit. And as I was re-assembling it (with a new blade and drive belts), the rock-solid construction really impressed me.
I truly believe every workshop needs a band saw. I’ve used mine for tricky hardwood flooring cuts, trim work cuts, and numerous other random home and craft projects: pinewood derby hit home for anyone?
It’s simply a must-have power tool to me…
In case you don’t have one, and there’s a birthday ahead – I highly recommend buying one for yourself. It will just make you happy; you can do so much with a band saw. Many home DIY-workshop-oriented bandsaws are surely a lot cheaper than my heavy-duty industrial model would be – but I’ll never lose this machine; it’s with me for the long haul.
Wooden Rocking Lion Construction
The photos that follow really speak for themselves, so I’ll only annotate briefly.
This project didn’t require a lot of precision, and the kids really love it…
I got hold of a photo from somewhere [an old magazine if memory serves], and I simply started reverse-engineering or deconstructing it. In fact, I made a few wooden rocking lions – my Daughter got the first. My Godson got the second.
The first one was almost completely dowel and carpenter glue assembled. On the second try, I found that I preferred the look of button top (mushroom) wood plugs, and it also made the construction a little easier as well – since I simply countersunk screws to fortify the body and plugged-over each thereafter. You can see the countersunk screws and 2 wood plugs I’ve laid on top of the body structure if you open the following two construction shots and look carefully…
It’s the little stuff that the kids really like, though: the mop hair, the hemp rope tail – and a very carefully drawn face. Artistic face-drawing talents required? Just the tiniest little bit.
For the face, I used a fine-tipped permanent marker before staining/varnishing. And it’s really important to practice first as you only get one shot at this. (I mean, you can probably sand off a “face mistake” – but who wants to do that, right?)
2023 Update: Rocking Elephants Too!
This summer, my wife and I visited an Elephant Museum in Pennsylvania – in the vicinity of Gettysburg for a short weekend trip. While walking through the [genuinely awesome] exhibits and buying a block of chocolate fudge – we came upon two Rocking Elephants. The first two images just below. As you can see, these look like they could be 50 (or more) years old.
And then, another really interesting thing happened only a few weeks later: a reader asked about Rocking Lion specifics, as he had only built “Rocking Elephants.” We got to chatting, and I just had to ask for photos, of course. His are the final four shots below – and as you can see: his elephant has a slightly different head design than the museum elephants, and IMHO, it’s frankly… adorable! (Plus authoritatively more than 50 years old.)
So beyond even Rocking Lions, here now – are Rocking Elephants…
Other Band Saw or General Workshop Creations?
If anyone wants to try their hand at a wooden rocking lion, I don’t have the designs as I truly just worked from a picture – and it was several years ago. But I can provide specific measurements from mine if anyone is interested. In fact – just below are now three more…
Please add your comments or questions below, and if you have your own rocking [or standing] band saw creations [or cool things you’ve built with ‘any-old’ home workshop tool] – please send me a photo with some verbiage through our contact page here, and maybe we can even put it up on the site!
Has anyone else built anything like this? If so, tips and wisdom you can share??
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Hey, the rocking lion looks fantastic. I have built similar elephants. Can you please provide some rough dimensions of the lion’s head? Thickness, lengths, etc. It is the only part that is not the same as the elephant.
Thanks,
Ed
Hi Ed – It’s funny you mention Rocking Elephants, as I just came upon two myself at a museum in Pennsylvania. I had never seen one of these ‘in real life’ before, though I knew they existed, and now you’re mentioning them too!
Thanks so much for your kind words above, and if you scroll down in this comment thread to February 21, 2021 – you’ll see a similar question from James, who also mentions having built a Rocking Elephant and wanted the details on the Lion’s head to build a companion for his second grandson. Wild, right??
You’ll see I gave him all the details and several close-up lion ‘head shots” as well. :)
I’m sure those will get you going, but I definitely plan to get some photos of Rocking Elephants up into the main article above in the coming weeks now!! If fact, I’ve also heard of Rocking Giraffes – have never seen one of those, though. (Has anyone reading this, by chance, built one of those?)
Hope this helps, and best with your project!
Hi Mark,
Brilliant project! I had one of these when I was a boy and want to build a couple for my adoptive nieces and nephews. Do you have the dimension of the body? And also, how much of a curve do you give the rocker? Thank you and great work!
Thanks so much, Alex – and I’m sure your nieces/nephews will love what you’re about to do for all of them. Watch this thread in the coming days. I’m ‘out of pocket’ at the moment, but I’ll get you the additional detail you requested!
Mark
Okay – Sorry for the delay, Alex…
I just measured and I’m going to include 3 additional photos now at the end of the article above so you can see for yourself… the body is 9.25″ x 16″ x 18.” As for the rockers, each one is a 36″ length of a 2×6. What I did for the arc – as I remember this clearly… I used a pencil and drew the curve freehand with some intentional ‘fuzziness.’ Then, I shaped it on my band saw – and once I had one the way I wanted it, I used it as a template for others. (And as you can see from my photos above – even now, I have some ‘spare parts’ in storage.)
Hope this helps – and best to you!
How did you apply the mane? Thanks. Kara
Hi Kara – The mane is the fun part… it’s made from 2 commercial mop heads! Here’s a link to a 2-pack on Amazon that may work well. But you can find these most anywhere, I’m sure.
I love your rocking lion. I made a rocking elephant for my first
grandson. I would like to make a rocking lion for my 2nd grandson.
The bottom of the rocking elephant and the rocking lion are the same.
I would like the dimensions for the rocking lions head and how it is attached
to the frame? Thank you very much.
I’d be happy to get you some insight there, James – watch this weekend for a more detailed response and maybe even some photos. I can’t get to it this minute – but I created ‘assemblies’ for three, I think. They’re collecting dust in my basement for a VERY long time now. More to come…
Okay James –
Thanks for the patience here, and note that you can subscribe to comments to see stuff without having to go back to the site regularly, in case you haven’t done that already: there’s a checkbox below.
I just took a few shots of my daughter’s lion (that I built in 1996) and of one of the spare ‘Rocking Lion Head’ assemblies I had in my workshop. The six photos below will convey more than the words here, but 3 core comments to follow…
[1] The basic dimensions of the head block? 9″ x 3″ x 5 3/16″
(I have no idea why 5 and 3/16″ on the last dimension – I was reverse engineering this [aka: ‘winging it’] from a photo. Either this just ‘felt right’ to me or maybe it was the natural break of the lumber I bought. Probably the latter.)
[2] Note also the head is tapered in 2 dimensions after you build the block – see the ‘finished’ photos below. I believe I started that with my band saw, but got it nice and clean with a belt sander. (Was a long time ago – but I’m pretty sure this is what I did.)
[3] Finally – the front of the neck is just a 2×4 section as you can see. Tapered nicely. I used Carpenter’s glue and there’s also a wood screw holding it from the back for the real strength.
Hope this helps – and… you gotta send some photos of your finished Rocking Lion, please! (Use the Contact Page to send me photos – I’ll then put them up here.)
Good luck!!
One last input, James – call this Item 4:
[4] There are actually two 2×4 sections connecting the head to the body. They’re perpendicular – and you can kinda see the second in the ‘neck’ photo above. For my lion, I glued both pieces together and screwed through the body into each. Both 2×4 sections are cut at what looks like (and is almost surely) 45-degrees.
Can you tell me what specific stain and clear coat you used? Really like the finish. Nice job, Mark.
That’s a really solid construction Mark – and should last forever I should think and great for the grandies when they come along. I’m not sure really what a band saw is but I asked David and he has one!
Well, then you can have him build your very own Rocking Lion or Horse or Bunny or… Possum?? Anything goes, really, as the only main difference could be the design of the head given some creativity. [Oh, and I know you have LOTS of Possums down your way, of course!] Now, on Pinterest, I touted this under the heading “Rocking Monsters” in our Carpentry Projects Board for this reason… the flexibility. And also because it’s very close to Halloween by us here in the States. That said, would you believe I had someone ask if we could turn this into a Gargoyle? And my response… Definitely!! (I guess.) But you know what? I made this for my daughter when she was about 2 years old – and I’d hate to have given her nightmares! ;)