Keeping Busy in the Shop

[heavyhitterokra]

Since Hank and I have finished shelling the okra pods for the 2023 season, I needed a new project to keep myself busy through the winter months.  So, I've taken to the woodshop to build a few Christmas toys.  You can buy these toys in Tahlequah, at the new toy attic, located in the loft at Beautiquey and the Beast.  That's the new name of the old Livery Stable in Tahlequah that was built in the late 1800s.  Now, that building has been remodeled and has become an upper end clothing store. 

The following are a few photos of one of the many projects that I'm working on in the shop in my spare time.  Too bad I had to shell okra every day of my life during the beautiful Autumn weather that we had in October this year.  It has been pretty cold out there in the toy shop lately.



This was my proto-type.  I saw a photo of it online and took a few days to draw one of my own, working out the details as I went along.  When the wheel on the right is turned, the needle on the left moves up and down, so it looks like it's really sewing.


The one on the right is my pattern, made of scrap lumber.  I'll keep it here at the shop for future reference.  The pretty one on the left goes to the toy store.

This was one of the rare, beautiful days we had in November, right after the okra seed shelling project was finished.  I put it to good use by setting up shop on the tailgate of my old blue truck.

This is my parts bin.  There are 180 parts stacked up there, awaiting assembly.

Just more parts, along with my pattern model.

Things are beginning to look up.

I have 6 of these delivered and 6 more in the works.  Next week, I'm working on catapults and toy tractors for the boys.

[woodeye]

Awesome woodworking project you have going, heavyhitterokra, the sewing machines look great! 

Creating wooden sewing machines like you have done is a great idea, I have never given a thought to making something like that.

I'm so glad that you have the bandsaw to use for cutting out all those parts shown the parts bin photos, I know from experience that getting all the parts that far along and ready for assembly is a nice feeling. Cool!

[hmoosek]

Awesome idea! Excellent execution! I sat down last night and whittled a Santa. It’s been a good 6 months since I whittled. Time just flies!

[chrysanthemum]

Those are so cute, heavyhitterokra. I’m beginning to wonder if you ever do any small jobs. At least you do the big jobs that you do undertake with enthusiasm and excellent results. Congratulations on that.

[rdback]

Great work for an excellent cause Ron. Good on ya!

[FrostyTurnip]

This was really wonderful to discover. Thank you for sharing it! 

[heavyhitterokra]

This is the rough-out model of the tractor that I drew up and cut out of scrap 2x6 lumber today. I gave it the 'roll down the stairs test' and it survived. It's a little dented up now, but it survived.  Just a little more tinkering and it will be my proto-type pattern for the first run at the toy store.  I haven't decided yet if they need to be painted or if I should just leave them natural wood.  At the very least, I'll probably coat them with non-toxic Tung oil, just in case anyone decides to chew on one.

[heavyhitterokra]

This is the prototype of the next run of bi-planes that I'm working on. This one is still a little bit rough, but it's just going to be my pattern.

It took a while to work out the right dimensions for it. I built one with longer wings, but it didn't fair too well in the 'crash test', so I shortened the wings by 2" inches. I liked the look of the first one better, but they needed to be sturdier than that one was, so I increased the dowel rod diameter to 3/8 and shortened it up some to make it stockier for toddlers.

I also changed the tractor axles to oak, so the wheels would hold up better when it's thrown. I don't think the new oak axles will break as easily.

[amyinowasso]

Ron, I'm shopping for grandkids today. This place wants $65,and it's plastic. Just an idea for you. smartkidsplanet.com/collections/stem-toys-6-7-year-olds/products/rainbow-racers-ramp-descent

[heavyhitterokra]

Amyinowasso,

Thanks for the idea. I found something similar just now on the Bella Luna website. Their toys are made of wood, but they want $75.00 for what they call a "Mini Car Roller".

Here's their website:

www.bellalunatoys.com/collections/wooden-toys/products/lapps-minicar-roller-natural

Actually, that was just a single item from a single category of wooden toys.  Here's a link to the rest of their wooden toy pages.

www.bellalunatoys.com/collections/wooden-toys?page=7

This is a link to their home page:

www.bellalunatoys.com/?tw_source=google&tw_adid=593511342627&tw_campaign=70303046&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA1MCrBhAoEiwAC2d64XLkLhn8DX5oRWMetJDuhh0BRD4s2v1M2EacBKx0574acEeBxsU4OhoCdZwQAvD_BwE

I get a lot of ideas from them, plus if I see an item on clearance there, I take that it's not selling too well, and that helps take some of the guess work out of it. 

I finished 6 more tractors today.  I still haven't decided if I should paint them or leave them natural.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be putting the final touches on 8 more sewing machines.  I have 12 of them all together.

I'll sure be glad when those are done, so I can get started on building more biplanes.  I'm kind of stuck on the biplane project until my new bandsaw blades show up.  My old one is so dull that it's blackening my wood as I cut.  Blackened Cajun chicken might be a good thing, but blacked wooden toys are not so great, plus that's an awful lot of extra sanding.

[woodeye]

heavyhitterokra , 

If your bandsaw blade is a regular tooth or skip tooth blade, you can sharpen it with a small triangle file. I used to have to sharpen bandsaw blades a lot.

I made a jig of sorts out of 2 pieces of 1x2x18 lumber. I drilled holes for 3/8" dowel pins, drilling the holes so that when the bandsaw blade is sandwiched between the 2 boards, the backside of the blade rests on top if the dowel pins. I would put the jig in a shop vice, insert the blade (make sure the teeth of the blade are on top above the boards). Tighten the vice to hold the boards/bandsaw blade sandwich securely. Sharpen all the teeth that are between the ends of the boards, then loosen the vice and slide the blade through to have a new batch to sharpen.

If you get your new bandsaw blades quick enough it probably wouldn't be worth sharpening your old ones, but back when I was sharpening blades quick shipments of new blades was not possible like it is now. 

Use a small triangle file to sharpen the blade something like this. It's very easy to do and helps tremendously.

[heavyhitterokra]

Thanks, Teddy. We used to sharpen sawmill blades, brushsaw blades, and chainsaw blades like that back in the '80s. Man, the steel they made back then sure wouldn't hold an edge for very long. I'm sure happy someone finally figured out how to temper the steel better since then.

The blade I'm currently using goes in a 93 1/2" inch bandsaw. It's only 1/8" inch thick and has 14 teeth per inch. (Thank goodness for online shopping). That would take a long time to sharpen all 1309 teeth on that thing.

The reason I changed to 14 teeth per inch instead of 4 was because of blade drift. My 4 TPI blades were drifting left or right something fierce. (Probably because of too much set in the teeth one way or the other or more pitch on one side), Who knows?  But the 14 TPI cuts straight as a string, even though it's only 1/8" thick.

I finished up all 12 sewing machines today, plus all 6 tractors.  I went back through all of them, tugging and twisting on all the 222 parts, making sure everything was glued on tight.  I ought to be able to deliver those to the toy store sometime tomorrow.  Hopefully, my new blades will be here by Saturday, so I can get back to cutting more biplane parts.  if I have to, I can put my sharp 1/4" inch 4 TPI blade back on, just to make the rough out cuts, but I'll have to wait on the 1/8" blades to get here to do my scroll work, or else use a scroll saw, but I'm cutting 2" lumber, so the scroll saw is pretty slow going for very many pieces.

[woodeye]

I fully agree, Ron. I never sharpened a 1/8" bandsaw blade for that very reason. I mostly sharpened 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2".

Agreed. I was so used to blades from the 80's not lasting very long that when I started buying blades again during the last few years it amazed me how much longer the blades of today last. 

Mercy, you have been in mass production mode for sure. Great job!

[heavyhitterokra]

My new blades finally arrived today, but I was gone to town delivering toys, buying feed, and mailing seed orders until past dark, so I was too tired to mess with changing the blade by the time I got back home.  Hopefully, by Saturday morning I'll be back to cutting toy biplane blanks again.

[heavyhitterokra]

I knocked out a whole box full of toy trucks and toy furniture to haul around in them this week, plus I got a couple of biplanes going too.

The Tahlequah Chamber of Commerce is supposed to do a write-up on the Toy Store tomorrow, December 14th, so I've been extra busy this week, trying to drum up enough inventory to make a decent showing by then.  So far, I've got 12 sewing machines finished, 6 toy tractors, a few puzzles, 3 walking kangaroos, almost 2 biplanes, and I've lost count of the toy trucks.

I need to make 24 more wooden wheels just to catch up on the truck bodies that I have stacked up. I've already used up 92 wheels. Those little trucks are deceivingly complicated for a thing that looks so simple. Each one of them has 12 parts. They're fun to build though, and easy to assemble.

The toy planes are kind of tough to put together though. Those take forever to mortise, drill, saw, sand, and assemble. They have 14 handmade parts. They are my favorite ones to play with though. 

That's one of the hidden benefits of being a toymaker, someone has to try them all out before they go on the shelf.

 These are the biplanes I'm working on tonight.  The wings on the second one are taped together with double-sided tape ready to be drilled, but I just realized I haven't made the propeller yet.  I guess I'd better get busy or else that one ain't never gonna fly.

This is a box full of toy truck pieces and toy furniture, stacked on another box of toy tractors.

This is just a general spread of one of  each item, laid out on the tailgate of the truck.

I couldn't get a decent photo without glare, but I received some pretty cool hang tags in the mail today, so I can start keeping better track of inventory.