Cute Toy Truck

On topic of making toys, I made this for my son over the Christmas holidays. It's not from the toy book I just posted, I just "winged it".

It was very fun (and super easy) to make. I just used scrap wood, some dowel, and some store-bought wooden wheels (got the wheels at Michael's Craft). The tools I used were a drill press (to make the holes for the axle, and the hole for the exhaust pipe), a vice, a coping saw, and some sandpaper.

I used professional wood glue to glue the cab piece on to the body, and I used 2 sizes of dowel- one for the axles themselves, and one for the exhaust pipe. The most fun was the paint job. I just used acrylic paint (didn't bother priming the wood, just went for it), and used a hair dryer to speed up drying so I could get multiple coats done.

When it was all finished I used two coats of an acrylic gloss finish, to protect and give it that "new truck" shine. My son's been playing with it for about a week now, and if it can stand up to a week of his bashing and crashing, I consider it a success.

It was really fun giving it to him at the breakfast table that morning- I love the feeling of making him happy with something I made myself. That being said, I also enjoy playing car racing games with him on the PS3!

Book On Making Old Fashioned Toys

I have a little shop out in my garage, as well as a small work room in the basement. I enjoy working away on projects, sometimes for myself, and sometimes for my son. I recently came across this book:

It's got a lot of fun projects, that really are simple, and charming. If you've ever wondered how to make a Balancing Man, a Skyhook, or a Floating Ball, then this is the book for you. It's laid out very nicely too, with a nice mix of historical illustrations of the toys and games, as well as more modern but tasteful illustrations of how to make the stuff. Well, I'm off to make a Bullroarer, wish me luck. If you are in Canada, you can buy it here.