Basic Requirements

Any observer of children in action is struck immediately by the terrific punishment inflicted upon favorite toys and games. With this in mind, the amateur toymaker must build a sturdiness into his products which will enable them to withstand a maximum of abuse. The rule seems to be that the younger the children, the greater the variety of tests they are apt to apply—such as chewing, sucking, gnawing, pounding, throwing, and kicking.

This brings up the matter of safe construction for the very young. Obviously, for wooden toys, close-grained woods are highly desirable, and all surfaces should be sanded smooth and corners rounded to prevent injury to tender skins. Not only this, but any and all removable elements should be of too large a size for swallowing. In addition, all moving parts, such as wheels, should be fastened securely in place with screws or nails so that they cannot be removed from the toy and put into the mouth.

Materials

Many toys are quite inexpensive to manufacture from scraps and used items which accumulate so easily in the average home. Scraps which are a normal by-product of any sort of workshop, if dropped into a wastebasket or empty carton, will eventually build up an impressive stock of reserve material.

Cigar boxes furnish an economical source for thin wood with a handsome grain which is easy to cut and finish, once the paper has been soaked off with hot water. Orange and berry crates are the source of a useful type of veneer that is easy to bend. Strong orange crates, moreover, are useful in their original forms, as covered bookcases, simple doll or pet houses, pedestals for play desks, and scooters.

Plywood, although perhaps not as easy to cut as the wood obtained from cigar boxes, is a far stronger material to work with. With its three or more layers or plies glued with opposing grains, it is excellent for cutting curves and circles, because the risk of splitting is virtually eliminated. Its availability in various thicknesses from 3/16 in. on up, makes plywood a versatile wood product for a variety of projects.

Cardboard of various thicknesses can often be substituted satisfactorily for thin wood, especially when the finished product is to be painted, enameled, or lacquered with an opaque color. Bristol board is an excellent medium to work with, as is show-card board and various color-coated types. Corrugated cardboard, which often comes as packing, makes an excellent imitation of corrugated sheet-iron for model siding or roofs.

For thicker stock, balsa, the light wood used in airplane models is the softest and easiest to work. Next in order of softwoods come the popular straight-grained white pine and basswood. A favorite all-round workshop wood is yellow poplar.

From the amateur toymaker's standpoint perhaps the most useful type of household salvage is spools. These, too, should be allowed to accumulate, because frequently a project requires four or more matching spools. Besides wooden thread and ribbon spools, the inclusion of at least a pair of typewriter ribbon reels or empty film spools will add to the versatility of the wheeled material. In later paragraphs other possible materials for toy wheels will be discussed at greater length.

Dowels of various diameters are invaluable for toy construction. There are several types, serving many purposes. Among the small "home-grown" variety are wooden skewers, lollipop or popsicle sticks, round pencils, and burnt wooden matches.

For model boilers, tanks, silos, and other round members, sections of wooden curtain poles or drapery rods, closet poles, rolling pins, or cardboard mailing tubes can often be substituted for meticulously turned, or tediously whittled, filed, and sanded pieces.

Wire hairpins, paper clips, and coat hangers are handy sources for wire of various gauges. The average wire coat hanger is bent from about 42 inches of 11-13 gauge wire.

Other useful items range from salvaged pieces of cellophane, leather belts and gloves, wooden button molds, beads, and shoelace eyelets, to incomplete checker sets, singleton roller skates, strap iron, inner tubes, casters, and rubber sponges.

Tin cans offer an almost inexhaustible reservoir for light metal, since they tend to accumulate almost overnight. Certain of the larger sizes, however, may have to be saved, along with those having friction tops.

Silhouettes

An easy method of constructing flat toy figures is to trace the desired pattern on a piece of paper, enlarge or reduce it as required, trace the final figure on cardboard, wallboard, cigar box wood, or plywood, and cut it out with a coping or scroll saw, or a power jigsaw. The original pattern can be "lifted" from a book or magazine without damage to the latter, if the outline is traced on thin paper laid over it. No heavy marks of carbon paper will have to be eliminated on the wood surface if the final pattern is cut from fairly stiff paper to form a templet, which can be outlined in pencil on the material to be cut. These templets are particularly useful when duplication is required, and can be filed away for reuse at some later date.

Enlarging Or Reducing Patterns

A majority of the working drawings in this volume which show figures or curved parts are graphed into equal squares. To reproduce the design, all that is necessary is to draw the same number of squares of the size indicated, spotting or dotting the points where the lines of the pattern cross the horizontal and vertical sides of the squares. By connecting these dots with lines, the full-sized design will be reproduced.

If a smaller or larger pattern is preferred, or it is desirable to change the proportion of its length to its breadth, extend the base line and one side to the required length, and mark off a graph (squares) with the same number of spacings as those in the original drawing, painting, or photograph. When no squares are indicated, they can of course be superimposed in pencil, unless it is undesirable to mark the original. In this case the design can be lifted on thin paper upon which the graph has been drawn. When transferring the design to wood, always place it so that the grain runs the long way of the figure.

Using The Coping Saw

Lack of a power jigsaw need not deter the amateur toymaker from cutting out figures and curves. Once a suitable saw table is improvised, a hand cutting job with a coping saw requires no particular skill other than an ability to turn the work so that the saw can follow the penciled outline.

Detail A of Figure 1.1 shows an effective saw table improvised with an ordinary C-clamp tightened to a table edge. If a bench vise is available, the unobstructed top of the table shown in detail B will accommodate larger work. The saw table can be reinforced under its rear corner with a section of 2 x 2, a pair of wooden triangles, angle irons, or the shelf brackets illustrated.

When it becomes necessary to make an inside cut, as when sawing rings, a small hole is drilled within the area to be removed through which the saw blade is pulled and then refastened to the saw frame. After the cut is completed the saw is unfastened from its frame and withdrawn from the cut.

Fig. 1.1. Coping saw tables.