Wooden Wonders

Wooden Wonders

Local artisan creates rocking horses

BY LISA SAVAGE

A few years ago, a young man holding a newborn baby walked up to Russ Jacobsohn’s booth at an art show. The new father had a big smile as he thrust the infant closer to Jacobsohn.

The man told Jacobsohn he had grown up riding one of his hand-carved rocking horses. “He said, ‘I just knew you’d want to meet the next rider,’” Jacobsohn says. And the man was right. Jacobsohn loves hearing stories about those who have enjoyed the carvings from Russ Rocking Horses through the years. Now, many owners are passing heirlooms to the next generation.

Jacobsohn mostly carves rocking horses, but he’s been known to carve dogs, lions, tigers, bears and even some furniture. “I’ve done hundreds, and no two are the same,” he says. “If you can think it, I’ve probably carved it.”

FOR THE LOVE OF WOOD

Jacobsohn fell in love with wood artistry when he was just a youngster in Delaware. His workshop was a walk-in closet, and he used a belt sander and a drill.

After he got out of the Navy in 1979, he decided to move. He got in his car and drove south. “I found Tennessee, and I’ve never left,” he says. Jacobsohn fell in love with the area and bought a house near Sparta, and then he set up shop in the twocar garage. He loved carving things from wood and created his first rocking horse not long after the move. “I had this need to build things,” he says.

For that first piece, a man asked him if he would carve a rocking horse and gave him $100. “I like to think my quality is better now,” he chuckles. Now, one of Jacobsohn’s creations goes for much more than that, and he likes to make a connection for special orders. When he first created a website, a woman tried placing an order by email and offered to give him a credit card number. But he wouldn’t make the item until he talked to her. “I wanted to at least hear a voice and find out more about what she wanted and why,” he says.

Similarly, a family from Knoxville wanted a rocking dog carving of their pet, a bullmastiff. “I said I wouldn’t do it unless I met their dog,” Jacobsohn says.

The family drove to Sparta and brought the dog. Jacobsohn played with the dog most of the day, and he gained the inspiration he needed to complete the project. Although Jacobsohn does special orders, he also takes quite a collection of his work to two major shows a year in Asheville, North Carolina, for the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands at the U.S. Cellular Center July 18-21 and Oct. 17-20. He also attends a few select shows in Nashville and displays his work at Dry Levee Salvage in Cookeville.

A FEEL FOR THE WOOD

It was at one of the shows that he learned people’s interest isn’t always about seeing the beauty of the carvings. A woman and her young daughter stood outside Jacobsohn’s booth as he exchanged greetings with customers. When the day’s events were winding down, the woman explained that her visually impaired daughter would love to touch the carvings. As the young girl touched a mountain lion’s face, a local newspaper photographer snapped a picture. The photo, captioned “Getting a feel for the craft fair,” was in the next day’s paper. The photo showed the look of pure joy on the girl’s face. It also captured Jacobsohn’s heart. “This shows that it’s beyond just what you see,” he says. “This is why I do what I do.”

Jacobsohn also carves stick horses by the dozens, and they’ve become popular because they’re a little less expensive than a full-size rocking horse. One day a man called him and asked if he could buy a stick horse. Jacobsohn told the man he didn’t have any on hand but that he could get one to him in a few weeks. The man, disappointed, explained that he had hoped to buy one for his young son to give him something to smile about. The boy’s mother had been killed in an automobile accident the previous day.

Jacobsohn searched and found some pieces he had discarded from previous stick horse carvings. He worked into the night, had a stick horse ready for the man the next morning and delivered it to his door by 8 a.m.

CREATING MEMORIES

Jacobsohn has hundreds of stories about his creations from over the years. He has gotten some items back through inheritance, such as a table and chairs he made for a high-ranking military leader in Washington, D.C. “When he passed, he left it to me,” Jacobsohn says.

He also repairs broken pieces, whether the original owner still has them or not. Jacobsohn carves his creations from assorted woods like walnut, poplar, cherry and maple, and he often uses burled pieces to add even more definition. He created a lion out of a burled piece of wood. “It’s taller than me,” he says. “Some of my pieces just keep getting bigger. Maybe I should stick with fishing lures and jewelry.”

But Jacobsohn doesn’t see many changes in his future. He’s been creating wooden wonders for almost 40 years, and he is set in his ways. “You can never go backward, but I live just on the edge of it,” he says. “It’s been the nicest ride, and I’ve met some of the nicest people. I love what I do out here in these woods in Tennessee.”