Seeing as how the temperatures this weekend got above freezing for the first time in about three weeks, I decided some outdoor fun with the kids was in order. Saturday I took all three (8, 6, and 4yrs) to a nearby park for sledding, first time this year to my regret. It's a great place with little traffic and if your creative, parking can be close to the hilltop.

This morning I decided to take them out again, but with something I've never used before. About twelve years ago I bought an old wooden toboggan, or as some may call it, a "Canadian Canoe". This thing was probably made in the sixties, maybe older. I picked it up at a garage sale for $20. It was up in the garage rafters when I spotted the front of it and asked if I could buy it. I started pulling it down and it just kept coming, all eight feet of it. I was pretty excited as I had been looking to buy one for a few years and this one was much better built than any I had come across, and in great shape. Ironically, it ended up sitting in the rafters of my garage until about 11:00 this morning. Several hours later, it was cleaned up nice with a coat of wax on the bottom. Not having the "Toboggan Wax" recommended by some sites I visited, I used some carnauba wax that my truck doesn't know about. Lots of buffing......

After pulling it down.


The Sears & Roebuck decal I wrecked blowing years of dust and dirt off of it.


Her she is out in the sun after God only knows how many years, all prettied up. That's a six foot tall fence.


A close-up of the leather and real rope gear.


Another. I'm not a wood guy, could someone please identify the wood used in this beauty?


A view of the bottom. Notice how thick the runners are.


One more pic with the cushion I got with it installed, also in great shape.


Well the conditions were excellent and the wax job performed better than I had hoped for. My four-year old exclaimed "Awesome!" as we raced down the first time with all four aboard (I went solo the very first time to get a feel for it, solid). It got faster each time, and as the sun began to disappear behind the trees, even faster and further. Sorry to say I have no action photos as I could not persuade my wife to join us as we left late and dinner needed attention.

It was a good afternoon!

Wow. What a beauty.

I'd hazard a guess that the boards are western red cedar and yellow Alaskan cedar but what do I know?

That's a real prize you've got there.

__________________
Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

What a prize! Thanks for sharing that story. Always good to hear family fun times.

__________________
Enjoy life, it has an expiration date.

Well, shoot me at dawn for sounding like a fool, but the wood in that beauty looks like OAK!!

Joe

I found a link that might be helpful...

http://www.rockymountaindecor.com/detail.aspx?ID=3626

The toboggan looks very similar to yours (it's supposed to be a copy of the JC Higgins) and the wood used is maple and stained mahogany.

Check the price. Looks you got a steal on this one.

__________________
Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Yeah....8 footer for $399!

__________________
Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Thanks for the replies. I'm really pleased to have such a nice item from the past and wanted to share. Good thing I didn't get rid of it as my wife had suggested years ago. I can't believe I let it sit so long, but I didn't realize what I had.

Comparing the wood to some known items, I believe it is indeed oak as Joe had stated.

I Googled "JC Higgins toboggan" and this thread was the top listing due to o1d_dude's comment. Looking around some more I found this in the Sears' archives;

" "John Higgins" the employee became "J.C. Higgins" the brand name during a discussion in 1908 among Sears' executives of possible names for a new line of sporting goods........

By the 1940s, J.C. Higgins represented all Sears fishing, boating and camping equipment.........

The J.C. Higgins brand disappeared shortly after Sears introduced the Ted Williams brand of sporting and recreation goods in 1961."

That puts the toboggan's age at 48 years or more, at least older than me by a couple.

I also found out that Whitnall Park has a toboggan run of 1500'. Hmmmm.....

"Rosebud....!"

"Citizen" Mark \\.

__________________
SAM # 0011

LOL.....okay citizen......

__________________
Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

But can you mount rocket engines on the back....?