Miniature Female Gnome Glued and Clamped

Handmade Wooden Female Gnome Glued And Clamped

 

I used a Pittsburg bar clamp for the nose. I purchased many of these back when I could get them for $0.99 each. Today, they are $1.99. Double the price; I haven't seen these on sale for a long time. They are great little clamps for small light work. I have found that I need to keep the bar clean, or they will slip. When I get new clamps, I usually wax them to prevent glue from sticking to them and help prevent rust. I waxed the first Pittsburg bar clamps I purchased and thought they didn't work because they slipped. I don't know where I got the idea to clean off the wax, but wiping the bar down with mineral spirits fixed the slipping. 

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Toymakers Shop - Glueing Legs On Dragons

Handmade Wood Dragon Finished Version

Dragons
https://www.etsy.com/shop/odinstoyfactory?search_query=dragons

The dragons appear easy to build on the surface. However, getting all the parts aligned and glued into place is a challenge. I struggled with this for a while, trying to find a reliable way to mount the legs and get them all to align so the dragon sits flat and does not rock. I contacted the pattern designer for help and soon discovered that he does not make test builds on his designs. I was on my own.

 

Handmade Wood Dragon Parts Before Sanding

 

The first thing I do is cut all the parts and sand everything smooth, repairing any minor imperfections I find. I do all the sanding before assembly. It would be challenging to sand a dragon after assembly.

 

Handmade Wood Dragon Gluing On The First Leg

 First, I glue one leg in place, being very careful to get it aligned as near to perfect as I can. Positioning this leg is critical because everything will index off this leg. After I apply the glue and position the leg, I let it sit for five minutes before clamping to prevent the leg from moving when the clamp is applied. Five minutes is slightly less than the working time of the glue I am using. At this time, the glue is very tacky, but you can still move the part. After five minutes, I add the clamps and leave them in place for at least fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, the glue has set enough not to require the clamps. These times must be adjusted for the glue you use.

 

Handmade Wood Dragon Clamping The last Two Legs

 

Once the first leg is in place, I add another leg on the same side after first clamping the dragon to a flat surface. The same gluing process is repeated, but I clamp the foot of the second leg to the same flat surface. Once the glue has set, I have two legs that have their feet perfectly aligned. The process gets much faster now since I can add as many parts as I can fit clamps on using the same method for attaching the legs. Note that the two orange clamps in the photo above are clamping the feet of the first two dragon legs to the board. 

Handmade Wood Dragon Testing The Legs To See If They Are Even

After the clamps are removed, I test the dragon by placing it on a flat surface. Here I am using the table of my Shopsmith. At this point, any slight perfections are easily corrected with a bit of sanding. However, to this day, I have never had to make any corrections using this method.

My animals are all handmade, and no two parts are the same. This method works with every I have used it on. Even those that stand on two legs.

Wings horns and ears are not critical. I stick them in the place where it looks good. I do, however, glue and camp one at a time if it is tricky to keep them in place.

You Need A Lot Of Clamps To Hold A Dragon

 

Nine clamps are holding this one together. There are two Pony hand clamps, three Pittsburgh Ratcheting Bar Clamps, and four nylon spring clamps holding this dragon together, and that is for one side. You need a variety of clamps to do this kind of work. The clamps need to into tight spaces, and sometimes it is like putting a puzzle together.

The Pony hand clamps hold very well and will grip irregular surfaces (dragons toe)due to the flexible pads. These clamps don't twist much, and the pressure is adjustable. The only downside is that they are too large to fit in all the places I would like to use them.

I don't use spring clamps for many things, but they work well for this application as long as they can get a grip without slipping. I wish someone would make these with flexible jaws like the Pony Hand Clamps. The pressure on these spring clamps is not adjustable. You get what you get. I don't like the steel spring clamps.

The Pittsburg Ratcheting Bar Clamps are a deal. You can get these at Harbor Freight tools cheap. These clamps cost $0.99 with a coupon. You should test them in the store before you buy them to make sure they work. They have a lifetime warranty. These are small light-duty clamps that will fit into tight places and are ideal for toymaking. You can't wax the bars because the clamps will not hold if you do. I have waxed bar clamps for years to prevent the glue from sticking to them and help prevent rust. If they slip, try cleaning the bare with mineral spirits.

Using Rubber Bands For Clamps

Handmade Baby Dragon Pull Toy - Made To Order

 

Sometimes a project requires clamping some irregularly shaped piece, and none of the clamps in your collection will do the job. When making wood toys, you can use rubber bands to clamp these irregular parts. I keep a large box of rubber bands in my toymakers shop just for this purpose. When I make my Dragon Pull Toy, I use a hand full of rubber bands to glue the dragon to the base.

Toymaker Shop Baby Dragon Pull Toy Build Day 2

 

Handmade Wood Toy Dragon Side 2 Parts Glued In Place

I use the paper patterns to align the first set of parts and align the second set of parts to the first ones. The black clamps are from Harbor Freight Tools. These clamps work great for this sort of clamping job. At the cost of $0.99 each, they are hard to beat. The blue clamp is an Irwin micro clamp. I don't use the Irwin clamps much, but they work fine for the ears, and the small pad makes it easy to use.

Handmade Wood Toy Dragon Clamped To The Base

The dragon pull toy is almost done. I used a router to round over the base's corners and still had to do a lot of sanding. I have to fit the legs and tail, so the dragon sits perfectly flat and square to the surface to get a good glue joint. I sand a little and check the fit repeatedly until it is right. Then I must center the dragon on the base and keep it in place until the glue sets. The clamps hold rules to locate the dragon and prevent it from moving when clamps are applied.  Rubber bands make suitable clamps for this. These are a pain to build. I'm thinking this is going to be my last. 

Handmade Wood Toy Dragon Clamped To The Base

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Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader

 

Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader

I use a lot of clamps. They are the first clamps of this type sold by Harbor Freight that I like. I make a lot of toys and use many small clamps. Recently I went to Harbor Freight with coupon in hand to pick up a few more of these clamps only to find that they have changed the clamp. 

Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader New Style

There are currently three SKUs listed on their website: 68974, 46805, 62242. The ones I have the most of are SKU 68974. I have only seen only two of them. I went ahead and purchased four of the new ones. I decided that for $0.99 each, I would give them a try.

 

Harbor Freight Four Inch Ratcheting Bar Clamp/Spreader New Style Flashing on the Trigger

 

The new clamps work ok, but the build quality isn't as good. The knob on the side is tiny compared to the older version, and there is flashing on the trigger that my old one does not have. The flashing on the trigger sharp and uncomfortable to squeeze even at the light pressures I use. It feels like it might cut me under the right circumstances. I don't like the smaller knob, but it isn't a deal-breaker as I rarely use it. I removed all the flashing with a sharp knife and smoothed everything down. 

 

 

I used these recently on a small project. The new style clamps worked fine, but I have to wonder about the roughness of the tool. If they let this slide, what else did they let slide?

If I need more clamps, I will be looking for the SKU 68974 clamps. However, unless I have a problem with the newer ones, I will buy them if I need this size clamp. If it breaks, they will replace it.

Here There Be Dragons - Clamping & Glueing Handmade Toy Dragon

I have just started making dragons. They are pretty simple to assemble, but gluing and clamping can be a challenge. You need to get the legs lined up correctly so the toy dragon will stand like they should. The parts always want to move around.

Handmade Wooden Toy Baby Dragon in the Clamps

Handmade Wooden Toy Baby Dragon Completed

I use Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue for this. This glue dries clear, sets up fast, and doesn't seem to move around asmuch.

Titebond No-Run, No-Drip Wood Glue

I prefer to use my Dewalt DWHT83191 4-1/2" Small Trigger Clamps for clamping. They deliver more than enough pressure and the one hand operation eases clamping.

Dewalt DWHT83191 4-1/2" Small Trigger Clamp

Spring clamps are fast but difficult to get aligned and the pressure isn't adjustable.

Dewalt DWHT83191 4-1/2" Small Trigger Clamp

I have some small F-Clamps but these almost require three hands. I'm not a big fan of these clamps they are the right size for many job but they will slip. I have had new ones that would not hold. Bessy has replaced some of them but it is a huge pain to get them to do it. If you buy these look them over closely and test them by clamping something tight. Wiggle them around to see if they come loose. In many cases they will not clamp at all.

Bessey 4x2-inch Bar Clamp LM2-004

I also have some Irwin Quick-Grip Micro Bar Clamps. These have prroved to be to light to provide the proper pressure needed to squeeze the glue joints down tight. They are good for other things but not for clamping legs on dragons.

Irwin Quick-Grip Micro Bar Clamp

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

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.

Tools - Jorgesen Heavy Duty Bar Clamp

Jorgensen Clamps are the best clamps I own. Especially the Heavy Duty versions. I had a few of and was picking up a few at a time until I I found out they were moving production to China. I went to every Home Depot in my area and bought all of the Made in USA clamps I could find.  They were pretty easy to spot because they all had wood handles while the Chinese made ones had the newer style rubber coated plastic handles.

When I heard the company folded I hit the stores again and bought what they had left that I thought were good enough.  These were all made in China. The fit and finish were not as good as the made in USA clamps but so far I really haven't had an issue with them.

These are big heavy clamps and I don't use them for everything. Every once in awhile when you really need to squeeze something hard these will do the Job. With 1500 pounds of clamping pressure it's almost like clamping. In a vise.

I still search for used ones. When I find them, for sale on eBay or Craigslist you would think they were made of gold. I read somewhere that someone had bought the brand and was going to bring them back. Home Depot still has them in their web store but none are in stock. Hopefully, they will return someday and I'll get a nice surprise.

3706 HD Jorgesen Heavy Duty Bar Clamp 

Do you need a lot of clamps to make wooden toys?

If you are planning to make only one toy at a time and you don't mind waiting for glue to dry you might not need many clamps. There are some toys that don't require any clamps at all. Play Pals for example.

Wooden Toy Car - Play Pal - VW Bug - Amber Shellac - Blue - Pine

However, if you plan on making anything more complcated than cut outs with wheels youare going to need clamps.

Ofcourse you can make clamps.  For common things this is hardly worth the effort when you can buy F clamps a Harbor Freight for $3.  Harbor Freight clamps are not the best but they get the job done and if you break one they will replace it. Check them thouroughly while you are ion the store.

Wooden Toy Car - Play Pal - VW Bug - Amber Shellac - Blue - Pine

When making toys that require thicker stock to be glued up you need a lot of clamps. A small block of wood with only two layers can require as six clamps to hold it in place until the glue dries. Plus a couple of more to hold things aligned while you get the main clamps in place.

Below is a photo of a recent glue up I did for five truck bodies and ten cars. I used up almost every F clamp I had.

Gluing Up Handmade Wooden Toys RequiresLots of Clamps

To answer the question. Yes you need lots of clamps to make toys just like any other wood working.

Wooden Toy Play Pal Trailer Truck Experimental Fleet

The Play Pal Wooden Toy Trailer Truck Fleet

There are five toy trailer trucks in the test fleet. The 5th one is on a road trip somewhere with the QA guy and could not be located for the photo. 

The missing truck.

None of my toy trailer trucks to to date have followed the original pattern. It started with the wheels. I didn't think the trucks looked quite right  The wheels for these are very inexpensive when purchased in quantity. So why not. Yep that looks like a truck. When the first truck cab was snitched by my grandson who refused to give it back even to get trailer attached I knew dual wheels were a winner. 

Next came the round nose on the trailer.  On the first one I had to clip the corners on the trailer to get it to turn without hitting the cab.  On the second trailer I used a circle gauge to layout the curve and cut it on my scroll saw. I liked this well enough that I'll likely continue to use it.

Adding some rails.  I had heard from others toy makers that little boys like to put their cars on these. The Play Pal toys all fit on the trailer as do Hot Wheels and Match Box cars. When I gave Odin his first trailer the very first thing he did was put a car on it. It rolled off and my three year old QA guy promptly told me it was broken. 

The first rails I added were eye balled. This didn't work very well. It was to narrow for most of the cars we had and most of them would rolled over the edge. The second rails were thought out a bit better.  Higher and wider they keep the cars on the trailer when tilted to 45 degrees. 

The box trailer was just a whim that worked out very well. It looks a lot like the trucks the tree service guys use to haul away tree debris. This wasn't intentional. I didn't think of it until I was writing this.  An idea for a new design with an arm for picking up debris and some outriggers to prevent tip overs while loading.  This trailer was a bear to get in the clamps. Either I need to change the design or make a jig. It's way to hard to clamp the box trailer pieces together.

Play Pal Trailer Truck Box trailer in the clamps

Finished Play Pal Toy Truck With Box Trailer

Wooden Toy - Play Pal - Trailer - Truck - Blue - Box Trailer

Wooden Toy Play Pal  Box  Trailer Glue Up In The Clamps

This was an experimental build testing materials and construction techniques. The entire project was made from wood I had on hand. I mixed up the woods to see how the paint would work with the different woods. I came up with the trailer design after giving my grandson the first truck with a flat bed and the first thing he did was try to haul a car on the flat bed. It rolled right off. Blocks didn't stay on much better.

The box bed is made from Southern Yellow Pine left from a previous Toddler Rocking Horse Project.  The trailers under carriage is made from spruce and the cab is whitewood.  The wheels are  3/4 birch purchased from Craft Parts.  The axles are cut from birch dowels.

The finish is Behr Oops Paint from Home Depot purchased for $0.50. I applied it using a brush on bare wood. There are two coats of paint with a light sanding in between coats to remove the fuzzies.

The wheels are finished with one coat of amber shellac and the axle ends are finished with red acrylic craft paint.

The toy truck was turned over to my grandson for QA stress testing.

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