2019-01-06

How many clamps does it take to hold a dragon?

Four for this one but he is pretty small. This one goes to Odin for testing, and the next one goes into the shop. If I cut and glued up all yen of the dragons in the set at one time, it would take 40 to 50 clamps. 


Handmade Wooden Toy Dragon In the Clamps
Handmade Wooden Toy Dragon In the Clamps


I made seven dinosaurs and started the dragon series this weekend. My grandson got all of the dinosaurs. Two were special orders from him but, all of the dinosaurs were tests to see how small I could make them and to develop a simple way to make different size patterns quickly. The smallest size I could easily make is a body length of 1-3/4 inches. Any smaller and I am dealing with parts that are 1/4-inch long and smaller. That is about as small as I can go without resorting to hand sanding.

Etsy Shop Listing Update - Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series with Peg Doll

Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series with Peg Doll
Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series with Peg Doll
A hot Rod modeled after a 1927 Ford T-Bucket and made from a single block of pine wood. The toy is hand painted with non-toxic acrylic paints and amber shellac.  Wheels are made from birch hardwood.
The standard size peg doll adds an extra dimension to pretend play and is compatible with many other peg dolls. 
These are great gifts. Use them to decorate a child's room, nursery or office space. One customer used a toy car of mine for a shower cake topper.

Length: 6 inches
Height: 3 inches
Width: 2.5 Inches

These are available in almost any color you can imagine. Other types of wood are also an option. Oak, premium pine and poplar hardwoods are readily available. Other hardwoods can be ordered. Custom orders are welcome and can be placed in my Etsy Shop.

You can see other Hot Rods here.

I have many other wooden toy cars in my shop with more being added all the time.





2019-01-04

Etsy Shop Update - Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series

Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series
Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series
The body is cut from a solid piece of pine with a scroll saw, not laminated. The paint is various colors of non-toxic acrylic paint. The birch hardwood wheels are finished with amber shellac.

I made these cars with holes for peg people before by drilling the hole before I painted the body. I was never satisfied with the results.  It was hard to paint and sand inside the holes, and I did not think it looked good. The curved bottom made it a challenge to drill the hole verticle. The kids didn't care.

This time I drilled the hole after the painting was done. You need to use a good quality, very sharp, forstner or brad point bit and drill slowly with a drill press to avoid chipping the paint. A bit of blue painters tape may help with this.

I drilled these with the car fully assembled. Drilling after assembly ensures that the hole is vertical and no jigs are required. 

2019-01-02

Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue - What glue shuld I use for toy making?

I have been using Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue for a few weeks in a recent project I tried several different types of glue to glue the legs on toy dinosaurs. If you have ever made these you know that getting the legs to align correctly is a challenge. Leg position is critical on the dinosaurs that stand on two legs only. I had four types of glue available.

Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue
Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue

  1. TiteBond II
  2. Aleene's All Purpose Tacky Glue
  3. Elmer's Glue-All Multi-Purpose Glue
  4. Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue
All of them were slippery but, Titebond No-Run was by far the best. It moved less and set up faster than any of the others. All I had to do was hold the legs in place with a little pressure and then add the clamps. I guess that I didn't need the clamps. However, I'm not that confident.

I have almost stopped using TiteBond II for toys because of the color. I prefer glue that cures clear for painted toys.

Aleene's All Purpose Tacky Glue isn't tacky.  I started with Aleene's but after having to disassemble a couple of toys, clean the glue off of them, sand a reassemble them I decided to try other things.

Elmer's is slippery and slides around just as bad as the first two.
While writing this, I decided that if I make more of these, I should make a template for attaching the legs.
Handmade Wooden Toy - Baby Dinosaur
Handmade Wooden Toy - Baby Dinosaur

2019-01-01

Etsy Shop Update - Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod - 1932 Ford Sedan From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series

Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1932 Ford Sedan From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series
Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1932 Ford Sedan From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series


I added some new photos to the listing. Some time back Etsy chaanged the number of phots that were allowed from 5 to 10. I'm just getting around to adding some new ones.

I cut this car from a pine 2x4 with my scroll saw. The body is one piece, not laminated thinner stock. TH wheels and the body are both finished with amber shellac. I painted the hubs with metallic blue craft paint to add a bit of color. The exhaust pipes are 1/4-inch dowels painted with flat black acrylic paint.

Yes, six is the correct number of exhaust pipes. These came with flat head 8 engines. The two center cylinders shared a collector to one exhaust.