Odin's Toy Factory

The following are some thoughts that came to mind while watching the video included at the end of this post.  I've made hundreds maybe thousands of wheels using the hole saw method. It works, and it can work well, but as with anything, there are pluses and minuses. I would never use vegetable oil to finish anything. Vegetable oil can and will eventually go rancid and can mold. If you want to use an oil and beeswax finish, use mineral oil. Mineral oil will not spoil. Wheels should have spacers between the wheel and the body. I use nylon washers, but metal washers will work. If you do not use spacers, the wheels will rub against the body. Not only will this remove the finish and eventually wear into the wood but the additional friction increases the rolling resistance. Sometimes to the point where the wheels slide instead of turning. Always dry fit you axle pegs with the wheels if they are too tight or too long and you don't know this before you add glue, you could ruin the toy. ...

The second pine wooden toy hot rod finished with satin polyurethane. Polyurethane really is a great finish for toys as well as furniture. Wood furniture such as a table where you expect there to be a lot of wear and abrasion will generally be finished with polyurethane. This is especially true if the furniture is made in a small home workshop. you can get quite good results using brushes or wiping it on with a lint free cloth. Sounds exactly like the finish you need for toys doesn't it. This is the second car I made with this color scheme. I made thes mainly to see what they would look like. Very nicely they turned out I think. What do you think? One of the things I really like about the polyurethane is that the more coats I put on it sanding with finer grits in between the smoother it gets until at some point it just becomes butter smooth to the touch. Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 1927 Ford Coupe - Model-T - Satin Polyurethane - Amber Shellac - Purple - Black - ...

This wooden toy car is finished with satin finish polyethylene. It's tough, durable and water resistant. It stands that th the wear and tear that children can dish out (little boys) better than anything I have found. I like wood and I like the look of wood. Polyurethane does not hide the wood. In fack (my opinion) it enhances the look of the wood without covering it up. Ok, so why not use polyurethane for everything? There a a few reasons for not using polyurethane everywhere. It takes a lot longer to apply. The solvent is mineral spirits not water. Brush cleanup is more difficult. No colors. Long cure times. You need to sand between coats. I would usually do this with anyny finish at least after the coat, Having to sand makes fixing minor finish flaws a bit more difficult.  Fumes - I really don't want to breath a lot of anything that mentions brain damage on the label. Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 1932 Ford Sedan - Satin Polyurethane - Amber Shell...

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 a...

My grandson Odin had a thing for helicopters for awhile.  He called them "Wop Wops". How hard could it be  to make a helicopter for a little boy. I sketched a helicopter body on a board and started cutting and drilling. The only hard hard was was making the rotors. I created several rotor patterns on paper before I got the proportions right. I cut the body from a piece of spruce I had left over from a long ago project. The rotors are made fom some thin hardwood I already had so no resawing was required. I tend to keep every piece of wood the looks big enough to be useful. I was a bit skeptical about the strength of the rotors, but he has been playing with it for two years and they are still intact. I don't know how but he did manage to get the peg out of the top rotor. This was an easy repair. The paint is all acrylic craft paint some of which I have had for years. Three coats of red, two coats of black, and lot of coats of yellow. If I had it to do again I would have...

These wer designed for me by John Lewman over at t oymakingplans.com . Soon as I ca clear my bench of the current projects and get some spked wheels I'm going to start work on these. Wooden Toy Car Bad Bob Custom Motors Model-T Wooden Toy Car Bad Bob Custom Motors Model-T

If you are going to make toys you are going to use a lot of wheels. The last time I bought wheels I ordered about 1600  wooden wheels. Sounds like a lot but keep in mind that one of my little tractor trailer rigs has 18 wheels. 500 hundred wheels make 27 trucks with a few extras. After that last order I've taken to storing wheels in the large jars that nuts and other things come in.  I did this after I received an order of a 1000 wheels that all came in one big bag. Previous to this they were all in bags of 100. Once you open the bag you have to do something with the wheels.  The jars are cheap as in practically free.  They are quite sturdy and sit nicely on a shelf. Using the set up pictured below I can finish wheels continuously provided the weather cooperates. If the relative humidity is below 50% shellac drys very fast. The first wheel in the rack will be dry long before I drop one into the last hole. 20171201_122332_HDR Wooden Toy Car Wheels TWT150 On th...