Wooden Toys

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on some wooden toys for my nieces and nephews.  I really enjoy making their Birthday and Christmas gifts.  They get really excited when they know that you made something specially for them.

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So far, I have made

A Strawberry Puzzle.

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A set of Three Stackable Block Characters. 

Their heads, bodies, and legs are interchangeable. 

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A set of Bookends.

Black with interchangeable white Zebra Stripes.

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And,

A 3D Puzzle.

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July - October

I have been really bad about posting my work.  It has been around four months since my last post.  However, I have been very busy working both in and out of the shop.

I have made the following:

·         A kids Table w/ four stools

·         Heavy Duty Storage Bench

·         Granite Table for a Eat-In kitchen

·         Rolling Pin

·         Three Serving Trays

·         A big wall Entertainment Center

 w/ lots of shelving

·         Play House w/Swings

·         Puzzles

·         A few different types of Rattles

·        Finally, I have almost finished making four of my

Bread Boxes w/ Cutting Trays.

Black Walnut Dinner Table

A good friend of mine asked me if I could make him and his wife a Black Walnut dining table out of a tree grown on their property.  They had a walnut tree die a few years ago and had part of the tree milled into 4x4 boards.  They wanted a smaller decorative table that could be expanded if needed.  So I designed a table top with curvy ends, and decorative, tapered legs.  The table is 60” long by 40” wide, with a 21 ½” leaf.

It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed every moment of (well, almost).  I was a little nervous when it came time to cut the table in half for the leaf.  I worked hard to get a nice, flat, beautiful solid walnut table top, but I

was going to have to cut it in

half with a skill saw!

Making the legs was my favorite part of the job.  They were the hardest and most challenging part of the build, but a lot fun.  I glued three boards together to get the 3” thickness I wanted.  I cut in a 19” taper on two sides of the legs to bring the bottom of the legs from 3” to 2”.  With a ¾” classic fluted router bit, I routed all around the legs at the top edge of the 19” taper and at the bottom edge of the 3 ½” skirt.  I then used a 45 degree chamfer bit on the four edges of each leg, stopping ¼” before each ¾” classic fluted grove.  The legs were mounted with corner braces and hanger bolts.  The skirts were mounted with screws going straight through the width of the skirt without using glue.

  

 

I would have to say that this has been my best piece yet.  I was a little sad to see it go, but someday I will make a walnut table for myself. 

Little Oak Tables

  Here are a couple of waiting room Oak veneer tables that had water damage.

On the first table I scraped off the thin Oak veneer and replaced it with a 3/8” solid Oak top.  

The second table was to be put in the middle of the sitting area so we decided to make it into a round table.

I made a 30” diameter top 4/4 (7/8”) Solid Oak top that slid over the top of the square table and secured it with screws in all four sides.

Wood Scrapbooks!

I just finished making four 16.5” x 18.5” wood scrapbooks for the Brentwood Fire Department.  They turned out really nice.

I don’t like the classic wood book style with the post for the pages and two small hinges mounted on top.  It isn't very user friendly and can take away for the beauty of the finished.

I came up with the design of using two piano hinges on the top and bottom, inside the book.  I mounted the hinges to two strips of wood that hold the pages of the scrapbook together and then to the top and bottom covers.  All the hinges are routed into the wood for a nice smooth connection when all the parts are put together.  

I also routed out an indention into the top of each book to mount the Fire Departments Badge in the center.

I made one out of Black Walnut, two out of Oak, and one out of Elm.  All were made from locally grown trees here in Tennessee.

Custom Engraved Baby Rattle

I had my first engraved baby rattle request.  I don't know why I hadn’t thought of offering the option of engraving sooner.  It is a great way of adding a personal to the baby rattles.

Display Case

I finished making a folding Display Case for my Baby Rattles.  It turned out really nice.  

I needed some way to display the little wooden projects I have made in a more secure way.  This will help out when I go to any craft shows and events.  

Plus it also shows that I am not limited to just baby rattles and other little wooden trinkets.