Fred Housel
Warren, Ohio
This project was a special one for me. When I was a kid my grandfather made a few of these, and my mom painted and gave them bows. On the left you’ll see their original bear, and on the right is the version I’m sharing here.
When designing this, I used some 4/4 mahogany, but you can use whatever kind of hardwood at whatever thickness you want. This bear is held together by 1/4" oak dowels. In the easel project you’ll notice that I have holes drilled, but these just serve as pilot holes so you can use whatever size dowel you have.
For mine, I wanted to recreate what they had already made, so the dowels are hidden. To save a little time though, you could just run dowels all the way through all three tiers and leave them exposed. I’m sure that will look fine. When assembling, just be sure to make things pretty tight and make sure everything lines up, that way you can “pose” the arms/legs and the bear sits level.
I would love to see if you’ve made one of these. Like I said, this was a little passion project for me. It’s not a complicated or flashy design, but to me it was special. If you make these, please share photos with me. If you make these to sell, all I ask is you link back to this project page so my grandpa and mom get some credit ;)
