Odin's Toy Factory

Handmade Wooden Toy Dowel Cutting Jig With Japanese Pull Saw & Clamps For some reason never have understood many people want to use a complicated jig or some big power tool like a 12-inch sliding compound miter saw, table saw or bandsaw to cut dowels. The will go to a lot of trouble to build jigs to accomplish this without throwing pieces all over the garage or cutting their fingers off. You don't need to go to all this trouble. Pictured above is the jig I use. I didn't make this jig for cutting dowels. Originally this jig was an experimental wrench rack for mechanics combination wrenches made from big box store plywood. One day I need to cut some axels for a toy car I was building and was looking around for an easy way to hold the dowel and cut it straight when I spied this in the scrap pile. Its been on my workbench ever since then. To use it measure and clamp on a stop where the point you want to cut lines up with the edge of one of the slots. Clamp the dowel in...

I made some blocks after watching my grandson trying to build stuff from random chunks of wood. The best ones (the ones he likes and the most) are I cut from 2x4s. I sanded them smooth and rounded the corners with a belt sander. I didn't use a router for rounding over the pine because it tears out so easy I would need to sand them any after routing. I didn't use a pattern or plan. I reasoned that all you need to make a basic block set is to cut a square and use the square as the basic size and keep adding to it. For example, the second size block is exactly 2x the size of the square. A 2x4 is 3-1/2 inches wide. Trim the end to be sure you have it square and smooth. Now cut the blocks 3-1/2 inches long and you have your square blocks. Cut the next blocks 7 inches long yielding a rectangle 7x3-1/2 inches. Seven-inch double size blocks may be all you need. However, I cut a few 10-1/2x3-1/2. I cut around all the knots unless they are tiny and any pitch pockets or other defects. If ...

I use 3m ScotchBlue Painters Tape. Yep, it sticks tight. I used to use a cheap knock-off tape that didn't hold so tight. I can't find it anymore around my local area. When I first started using the cheap blue tape, I had to use a roller on it to get it to stay in place. Out of habit, I rolled the 3M tape. Not a good idea. It pulled chunks out of the pine when I removed it. I learned that you need to rub it lightly to get the bubbles out, and that is it. The adhesive on the 3M tape is pressure sensitive the harder you press, the tighter it sticks. I spent $80 US on tape last year. 3m Scotch Blue Painters Tape I cover the top wood entirely with the tape neat and trimmed. I don't want any tape hanging or sticking on anything while I'm cutting. I can mess it all by myself I don't need a poor taping job to help me. Patrick Speilman  talks about using tape for lubrication of the saw blade in one of his books. According to Patrick, the manufacturers put silicon...

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs I made this wooden toy car from a piece of wood I save from somewhere in the distant past. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is, but I think it is spruce. It looks like spruce and smells like spruce. Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs I finished the body with several coats amber shellac sanding with fine sandpaper between each coat until I get a finish I am happy with. The first few coats are simply to get rid of the fuzzies, wood fibers that are sticking up form the first sanding. After the first coat, the body of the toy will fill like sandpaper because the shellac makes them stiff. Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs After the first coat or two has been sanded, the toy will feel smooth to the touch. You can feel things with your fingers that your eyes can't see. Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs After the finish is smooth, the ...

If you don't use eRank this is probably useless to you. If you have an Etsy shop you need eRank. This isn't a question. It's a statement of understanding of how Etsy search works and a system for scoring tags. I've studied every Etsy document I can find on the subject, and this is my conclusion. I can't quantify it with numbers. If I have a tag "Home Nursery Decor." In Etsy search, this will match Home, Nursery, Decor, Nursery Decor, Home Decor, and Home Nursery Decor. They will also combine with keywords in other places in the listing with exact phrase matches ranking higher. If I plug "Home Nursery Decor." into the keyword tool, I see, "Sorry, we could not find any Etsy or Google search trend data for the keywords provided." So this tag, as a whole, scores 0. If I break out the top relevant scores using Etsy search counts for the score and total, then I get a score for the tag.     Home Nursery Decor 0     Nursery Decor 15,520    ...

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green & Blue I made these for my grandson more than 3.5 years ago at his request after he saw a picture of one in a book. They are about three years and 8 months old in these photos. They have survived many a dinosaur fight and even being used as a hammer. The tail makes a near perfect grip for a hammer. I don't have any of these in my shop . Perhaps I should. They are quite easy to make and would look good made from some contrasting hardwoods, or maybe I could find some green poplar. We all know that T-Rex is green. I did not go to a large amount of trouble to make these look nice. Ths turned out to be a good thing since the first thing my grandson did was use them like a hammer. In the photos, you can see some places where chunks of wood were broken off. This happened on several occasions and the pieces were glued back on some bits were lost, and so we have some chunks missing. I made thes from some reclaimed pl...

I see people interchangeably using the terms model and toy. I've seen people call scrollsawn animal cutouts models and elaborate builds with hundreds of tiny parts toys. Perhaps this is just a language thing that I don't know about. However, I am curious. At what point do you think a toy becomes a model? If it is easily broken, it is not a toy or perhaps poorly designed or built. For example, dropping it on the floor breaks the toy. All my toys that have wheels on them get drop tested by my grandson. Wooden dinosaurs always seem to be getting into fights. Occasionally, one gets hammered on the concrete floor. If it has many small, easily breakable detailed parts, it is not a toy. What do you think? These lines can get very blurred. They even branch out into other areas that are not toys or models. Since opening my Etsy store, I have discovered that many of my toys are considered decorations. You would think nursery decorations or for a child's room. I'...