making wooden toys by hand?

[Brian Sommers]

Anyone have links to examples of wooden toys that were made by hand?

Also, I would like to cross into more of the model detail than toy.... any advice? or direction?

[george wilson]

Back in the 60's,when I lived in far Western North Carolina,I used to make up dozens of toy boats,tanks,pickup trucks,and other wooden toys at Christmas. I'd take them around and give them to poor children.

I never made pictures,though,or plans. I just drew them on the wood and cut them out.

[Jim Koepke]

There are a many books on toy making. None come to mind.

It depends on the age of the recipient. My grandkids have gotten a bit bigger from some of the early toys that were made for them. Toy train engines were not too hard and were a big hit. One summer when they came up for a visit they each received a toy airplane. No super details, just something they could have fun with while playing. They all have 'magic' wands of various woods.

Bigger kids into their teens might like a 'treasure' chest or a keepsake box. For teenage girls it would be a jewelry box.

Smaller kids might like a cutout of a dog, horse or other shape on wheels with a pull cord. For a bit of fun have eccentric wheels on the back can be a lot of fun. One of these with a built in noise maker would thrill kids in the 2 to 4 year range.

Be careful about making something like a whistle or whirly ratchet. Unless of course you want to drive the parents of the recipient crazy.

jtk

[ryan carlino]

The book "Tremendous Toy Trucks" has some nice, realistic designs of vehicles. It's power tool focused, but easily adaptable to hand tools.

I made the log truck and tow truck so far and the kids enjoy using them. For the complicated curves (wheel well/fender), I used a bandsaw, but the other parts were done mostly by hand. I had to be creative holding the small parts when planing and did resort to a sander to get everything to fit just right. It uses up lots of small scraps.

[Dan Hulbert]

347725I made a set of 6 fish with a fishing pole for my grandkids. The fish are simple bandsaw fish profile cutouts with a hole drilled through for the eyes. I had some 7/8 thick white Oak which allowed some corner rounding while keeping a good size surface for stacking. I didn't really measure anything, but the fish are around 5" long and maybe 1 3/4" tall. The trick is to get the fish very symmetrical so they can be stacked head to tail. Then make a fish pole (I used 14' dowel) with a hook that will fit through the eye.

The little ones (ages 1 and 3) had fun just stacking the fish. The older ones (ages 9 and 13) were challenged to hook the fish through the eye and then stack the fish.
This is a picture of my second set. Still need to do some final sanding and make the pole, but this should give you a better idea. If you used something softer that white oak, I'm sure these could be done easily without corded demons.

[ryan carlino]

So cool! Thanks for sharing the pic. I can see how that could be a challenge to stack, especially on carpet.