Toy Time

   In the picture to the right is a toy wooden combine.  It is one that Pam's dad made several years back.  When I look at it, it always amazes me how he did that.    Being a farmer he did not do a lot of wood working, but he did have a talent for just grabbing a 2x4 plus a board that most likely came off of an old collapsed corn crib and with no plan to look at he would build toy machinery for the grand kids to play with.   He had made several pieces and once he passed on, those wooden toys got divided up.    Pam ended up with this combine.   It was beat up a little missing a wheel and a couple of screws, but overall it was an easy repair.   Those homemade toys always got a workout when the grand kids came to visit.

I went to the scrap pile and found some maple and some walnut wood that came from trees off of Grandpa's farm and decided to make up some wooden toys this Christmas myself.   Of course I don't have the talent to just whip up something without a plan, but I wanted to make some toy trucks.   I had made some toy trucks in the past and they seemed to be kind of popular so I thought I would make a few more.    It seems like wooden toys are not the favorite item in the toy box anymore.   It seems like the new plastic models make noises and siren sounds etc.   To be honest,  I think adults like the wooden toys more than the kids.

  To the right are some pickup bodies.    As you can tell, I came up with a paper template and made several copies.   Then I glued a copy of the template to little blocks cut from those chunks shown in the picture above.   I drilled a hole for the side windows. I drilled the holes for the axles.  I discovered the importance of having those holes at the same level.   The first one was not level so all four wheels were not touching the table top at the same time.  (That one will have to go in the naughty person's stocking.)

Next I made the little truck boxes.     The truck bodies were made out of maple and the truck boxes were made out of walnut.     I was lucky a few years ago when I bought a bag of wheels and axles on a garage sale.     Because of that, I had plenty of wheels on hand.    I used 24 wheels for this week's project.   (Next summer I may have to take in another garage sale or two.)   Once I had all the parts cut and glued together, I put on a couple coats of varnish.

     To the right is my fleet of trucks.  I bought some chocolate candies to put in each of the boxes.   I thought I had enough when I bought the bag, but when I started to fill up the truck boxes with that candy I come up short.    (I wonder...  Hmm...  That dog gone cat must of got into the bag.   Yep!  That's the story I'm going to stick with.)   Well, as of this writing, five of the eight trucks have already found a designated home.    The surprising thing is that those are homes where the kids have grown up and left.   (Oh well, grownups like to play too...)