Our White Patriotic Jumper had repairs to be made on the tail,
the tail-to-leg connection, all four legs, and his belly.
When these repairs were completed, we could treat surface repairs and finish.
The White Patriotic Jumper is a sample treatment,
so our client can see the process from start to finish!

We continue our documentation of the tail from
JBC: White Patriotic Jumper Treatment, Tail, Part I.

Please excuse the grainy grey images in the woodworking rooms; the yellowed
lighting creates an odd discoloration and makes Mitchell’s hands look black!

Note that a lot of explanations are under the images themselves!

TAIL TO KNEE

The tail to knee gathered water, which caused dry rot.
It means that at some point in Patriotic Jumper’s history,
he was covered with quite a lot of water, and not dried off.  Regularly.
*If there are carousel owners reading this, beware!*
Again, this meant more work than anticipated, and the rot was not detected under the thick paint.  The rot had to be removed and the wood replaced for a strong connection.

The two areas to be repaired were the tail tip, the knee itself.
After these were repaired, the tail could be reunited with our horse!

TAIL TIP

When the tail is separated from the knee, rot and losses to the knee are exposed!

Bits of rotten tail structure, glues and putties crumbled from the joint.

Originally the tail was screwed into the knee through the tail’s structure.

The rot must be removed from the tip for replacesment.

Rot extends into the depths of the tail tip wood substrate. We must remove each layer!

Rot is revealed extending several inches into the tail structure.

The repair took several steps.  The first was to remove all the rot, and the rot went surprisingly deep — more than one inch into the tail structure.
It appeared that over time some workers had tried to repair the tip
without looking at the cause of the problem, more common than you’d imagine.
Glues were mixed with putties and the crumbling rot, seen in the first few images above.

We located what is likely the original screw hole, going through the tail into the knee.

It took patience to remove all the rot.

A mortise must be created after removing the rot and a precise corresponding insert fashioned to set into the mortise.

First stage of creating a mortise during the rot removal. Virgin wood is revealed and iron oxide is discovered, proving that the original tail tip was anchored to the knee through the convenience of a screw.

Mortise floor is planed to proper depth.

Mortise floor leveled.

Mortise walls are chiseled to present vertical to a spline.

The holes is cut skimmed until there is no more rot.

Hide glue with gap filling PVA is applied.

Block in inserted.

First level of tip is clamped to cure.

The next step was to insert fresh wood of like species into the rotted area; all the while maintaining a viable structural unit which would be able to withstand the rigors of opposing tension and flex which will be asserted over the next many decades of service.

A mortise was created and a precisely corresponding wooden insert fashioned to set into the mortise.  In image two, virgin wood is revealed and iron oxide is discovered, proving that the original tail tip was anchored to the knee through the convenience of a screw.

The mortise floor is planed and chiseled to present vertical to the spline,
images three through six.  Hide glue with gap-filling PVA is applied,
and the block is inserted, clamped and allowed to cure, images seven through nine.

The second block is ready for attachment.

The first level of wood is trimmed to accept the second block.

The block is patterned.

The block is cut.

Once glued and cure, the second block is shaped

The tip is ready for attachment then final carving.

The tip itself was diminished and needed augmentation to attach properly.
Before the second block was attached, the attached black was trimmed
to accept the second block, and the block itself was fashioned,
then glued as was protocol in the step above, and left to cure.

After curing, the tip was grossly carved to ease the final carving and fitting.
Adding physical structure to the tail tip in order to satisfy the loss of tip structure allowed us to gain proper purchase in connecting to the knee.

ROMANCE KNEE REPARATION

The knee also had dry rot and structural losses to the surface substrate
which connected to the tail structure.
The rot inside the knee had to be removed and replaced.
A large section of loss which extended into the knee was adjacent to the primary connecting points of the leg’s thigh to knee scarf joint.
The structural integrity of the joint had been undermined with several previous repairs.  The integrity of the joint was of utmost concern for us when devising a plan by which we could recreate a reliably strong connection to accept the repaired tail to knee join.

Two sets of repairs were done concurrently to strengthen the knee.

The splintered interior knee is ready for removal of rot and splintered substrate.

Cleaned of surface rot.

Mortising of the exterior knee begins using a Forstner bit to excise large amounts of desiccated wood.

Eroded screw bore revealed. Mortise will be excavated beyond the point of the screw bore tip therefore it is not necessary to install a dowel.

Mortise completed. Notice the iron oxide deposited within the wood substrate, proving the tail was originally screwed into the knee!

A block created for the augmentation is readied…

Gap filling PVA and hide glue is used.

Glue is being brushed upon all surfaces.

The knee block is clamped to cure.

The bulk of the extraneous wood is cut off.

The block is shaped to historic levels.

The insert is sanded smooth.

The refreshed knee is almost ready to be re-bored to accept the restored tail.

The first was to work with the dry rot within the knee, which was excavated.
A mortise was set into the knee to accept the fresh piece of tulip-poplar.

During the mortise excavation we were able to conclude, with confidence,
that the tail was originally secured by screw to the knee.  The discovery of iron oxide deposits well into the depth of the knee matched those we saw in the tail tip, above.

A block was crafted to insert into the mortise, then shaped to historic surfaces.
After the glue cured securing the block within the mortise the piece was shaped to historic levels, insuring a proper foundation by which the tail can be re-secured to the knee.

When the tail is separated from the knee, rot and losses to the knee are exposed!

Spline is created and coated with glue. Note the corrugated nail.

A specialized gap filling PVA is injected into the knee as a preventive precaution.

Spline is installed and leveled to historic surface.

The joint is cleaned of debris in advance of accepting an amending shim.

A veneer shim made from tulip-wood is created then is placed into the void. The shim is glued into the void then trimmed to historic surfaces.

Ready for connection!

Small losses from prior repair failures were filled,
including two crafted splines to shim the knee joint and prevent it from flexing, above.  Veneer shims of tulip poplar were made to fill loose gaps.

The knee was ready to accept the tail!
Soon to be posted, the final reparation of the
White Patriotic Jumper Treatment, Tail, Part III.

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Written by Kate Powell  ©MPF Conservation.
May be printed for your own use ONLY, not for use on blogs without permission.