Making Toy Grasshoppers

These grasshoppers (and ones like them) have been a real go to gift for me over the last few years. Simple to make and really satisfying to finish. You can knock a few of them out over a weekend and are a great project that doesn't require any special tools or complicated techniques and jigs.

So before I share a few tips, here is my backstory with this toy.

The first one I saw was when I was in college. There was a Christmas craft show set up in the Student Union Building and I purchased one for my niece. I really liked how the legs moved and the classic look it had. (This was during the time I thought I'd never want anything to do with wood working or power tools...aka my "Idiot Years.")

So fast forward 20 something years and I acquire odds and ends of tools, a little experience and a mini library of toy making books. One of them is Jim Makowicki's Making Heirloom Toys. It is a great book with easy to follow illustrations. One of the plans is for this grasshopper. All of my grasshopper are pretty much straight forward from those plans. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy if you want to make some of these.

I'm not going to include a plan here since I've followed Makiwicki's plans for all the ones I have made. If you want to make one and don't have or aren't going to get the book, give this video and download on the Wood Whisper site a look. It is a little different but the same basic idea.

I do a couple of things differently than Mr Makiwicki does. Namely:

• No antennae 
• No pull string.
• For the through holes in the legs, I use a 15/64" bit
• For the stopped holes in the leg, wheel and body, I use a 7/32" bit

I changed the hole sizes to be a better fit for the pegs I use. The lack of antennae and string are because I like to keep it 100% wood. That's just me.

The "through" holes need to be loose enough to allow the leg to pivot around the peg. The others holes are "stops" that the peg needs to seat firmly and be glued into. My latest batch of pegs needed to be trimmed to length but fit nicely in the leg holes. I found that making a die and checking the pegs beforehand was a big help. If the peg is a little thick, forcing it into and back out of the proper sizing hole saved a lot of sanding and hassle.

The pegs and wheels are purchased from Woodworks Ltd. The pegs are about a nickle apiece and are solid. YES, I could make them but they wouldn't be as nice or as cost effective.

As with making all toys (and maybe all woodworking for that matter) the big time sink is in setups and not so much in cutting. After I made my first one of these I realized that going forward it was silly not to make at least two at a time whenever I was making them. Besides only having one setup on the drill-press and bandsaw, it also lets you get into a rhythm.

So, I've probably made and given away eight or ten of these over the last few years. Several of them to charity auctions. The first few I did I just used a piece of construction 2x4 for the body and painted it with craft store acrylics and then coated with spray gloss acrylic. They come out nice and really have that toy "vibe" about them.

Since I lack imagination, my painted grasshoppers have always been green. In my non-creative skull, grasshoppers are like tanks. They need to be green... or camouflaged. Otherwise, we are just living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Over time when I got some nicer wood (in this case maple for the body and red oak for the legs) I finished them with mineral oil and beeswax. I love working with that stuff. Besides the fact that I whipped up a 1/2 quart or so of the stuff for next to nothing, I love that it is non-toxic, actually smells nice (almost like honey if you ask me) and is super forgiving.

Here it is half applied to a piece of maple. You can see the warmth it adds. However, it isn't a stain. The oil penetrates and preserves the wood but it isn't going to protect the way a hardcore finish will. The trade-off of a great look, feel, added safety and ease of use all make it a good choice for me. Lots of places to find the formula and safety tips on the web but I found mine on a Wood Toymaker video link here.


The eyes are 1" dowels. Since I don't have a lathe,  I "turn" them using my stationary belt sander. I'll take a long length of 1" dowel, hold it it at angle against the belt sander and keep spinning it in my hands while changing the angle slightly. Keep you hands away from the belt and have the dowel facing "down stream" so it won't catch on the belt. It only take a minute of so and you have a rounded-ish end. I usually finish the rounding with a palm sander. Then you just cut it to length. I've experiment with Danish Oil, black paint and just the beeswax and mineral oil finish on the unpainted grasshoppers. All seem fine. Whatever works.

Speaking of works... here are a couple of them being tested out:

So there you go. Again, these are easy to make and make wonderful gifts. I recommend picking up a copy of Jim Makowicki's Making Heirloom Toys but if you search for plans on the internet, they can be found along with design ideas if you want to give creating a design of your own a shot.

Last tip - It never hurts to have another set of eyes (and paws) to make sure everything is coming together properly. All those parts aren't gonna knock themselves on to the floor.

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Making a Toy Shark

Okay, right off the bat -this is not my design. It comes from the amazing mind of David Wakefield and is in his book "Toymaking Basics" That book is a great one stop shop for getting started making toys and has a few plans (including this shark) at the end. I highly recommend it.

This toy has an odd back-story for me. I think I started it about ohhhhh three or four years ago! Before you freak out, it is actually a very simple plan and can be made entirely with hand tools and knocked out in a few hours. What happened with me is that I used to have all my tools in my parent's basement and would just work an hour here or there when I was visiting or doing some work at their house. So, projects tended to go in fits and starts.

After my parents passed away we sold their house. My tools, and most of this shark, went into storage at a friend's house until our addition was completed and my shop space added.

One of the first things I did in my new space was look at the shark and try to improve him. I had everything cut out but as I was test fitting him, I saw something that I didn't like. The shark's mouth opens as the lower corner of its head is pushed up by pegs on the insides of the front wheels. It works great.

However...

Just like in real life, this shark can't go backwards.
Well, he can but the wheels lock up because the pegs can't move the sharks head from the front. It only works from the rear. My concern was that lots of times kids will move a wheeled toy back and forth rapidly. If the wheels were locking up and being forced, I worried that the pegs would break.

So, I made a test front 1/3 of the the body to experiment with. David Wakefield's plans have the eye sockets slightly larger than axle pegs that form the eyes and are anchored to the body. My thought was to have a solid dowel run from side to side and the hole in the body be more of an oval slot that would allow the head to slide up when being pushed backwards and then pivot up when being pushed forward.

How did it work? Well, I usually save every little scrap experiment but that test ended up in the fireplace. I found that the slot was going to need to be bigger than I though to allow the head to clear the peg.  It might work but it also takes away from the simplicity of the design. What can I say... I gave it a shot. It was worth a try.

So, instead the shark ended up being very straight from the book.  My one change is that I made the eye sockets 1/4" and widened the hole in the body to 5/16". Instead of pegs I used a solid dowel from one end to the other. The head needs to lined up as close to perfect as possible to make sure his (her?) head moves smoothly. Drilling both sides at the same time seems to be a must.

The body was from a 2x6 piece of pine and the sides of the head from my stash of Ikea bed slats. This shot is actually the test body before I tried cutting the slot. At this point it just has a slightly larger hole. (I figured the knot wouldn't matter since this was never going to be part of the finished toy.

Actually, having the kerf intersect the
side of the board allows the sawdust
 to escape and speeds the cut.

I like using the store bought hardwood wheels on a lot of my toys. While I can cut out wheels using my arsenal of hole cutting bits, I don't have a lathe to make them look as good as the pre-made ones. With this toy though, the slab, solid on both sides wheels, were the way to go for me. Just wanted to see how they'd come out. When cutting your own wheels, don't go all the way through. Go deep enough so you are past the 1/2 way point and the pilot bit has passed through the other side. Flip the board, line up the pilot and complete the cut. It makes for a much smoother wheel with no tear out. It is also easier to remove from the bit, which is very hot so look out.

The fins were from a different stash of Ikea bed slats usually reserved for the occasional stegosaurus. I got a nice tight fit on them and I liked how they looked but it made me rethink how I was going to finish the toy. I had originally planned on using Danish oil but I knew the contrasts in the woods would really show and perhaps be a distraction.


After a number of tests and focus groups among the family members, I settled on a two tone grey scheme with gills added on the suggestion of one of my daughters. Craft store acrylics with several coats and then gloss coated with a spray acrylic.

Clementine boxes...

... the onion of frugal woodworkers.

I painted some dowel caps to use as eyes but when I test fitted them, I wasn't happy with the look. It reminded me too much of Quint's quote in Jaws, "Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye." YIKES! I'm making a toy not something to scare the poor kid.

I went with friendlier, but not too friendly, googlie eyes. They fit more into the toy vibe I was going for.

So here you go; the finished product. The lighting makes him look more blue than he really is.

It is a great design. Easy to make with hand tools but a drill press really helps. Again, I highly recommend all of Mr Wakefield's books. He sells his amazing, super high quality toys online now and you might want to check his site out. - http://www.wildlife-toys.com/

Like a nit-wit, I failed to get  a video of the shark in action before I gave him away. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make another one.

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Making a Toy Dump Truck

There is something about construction equipment. It's big. It's loud. It wrecks stuff and it makes stuff. What's not to love?

As a kid I fell into the tank/airplane as opposed to trucks and trains camp of toys. As an adult (or at least as a man child) I've developed an appreciation for heavy equipment of all types: cranes, bulldozers and yes... the ubiquitous dump truck.

I never had a toy dump truck but I've now built two of them. The first one was for a kid who was named Aaron (actually, I think his name is still Aaron.) I built it as a total one off about six or seven years ago. Some Oak, some Aspen and a few dowels. I heard back that the frazzled mom got several hour of much needed relief as Aaron loaded and dumped and reloaded crayons with it in the other room. So, mission accomplished.

 

The little driver had a peg that went down through the chassis and would bounce up and down as the truck was pushed thanks to a cam on the front axle. (Note that the driver is a rather handsome devil...)

While that was a fun little "action" piece to include, it was a bit fiddly and my guess it that it won't hold up to the day to day pounding a toy like this will take.

 

Okay... so much for the past. Here is the present. I had been asked a while ago to build a toy truck for a two year old boy. (Truth be told, he was only one when the request came in... just saying.) I wanted it to be sturdy, made from things on hand and easy to reproduce. Also, not just a truck, but one that did something - that had something that moved besides the wheels. The obvious answer - another dump truck.

 

The chassis and cab were cut from a standard 2x4. I started with a piece about 10" long and trimmed it up to be 2 1/2" wide long x 1 1/2" tall. I cut a piece 7 1/4" to be the chassis and then used the remaining piece for the cab. I cut a curve for the front of the cab to give it a toy look. I then drilled a pilot hole all the way through to help me line up a 3/4" Forstner bit (named, by the way, after its inventor -  Benjamin Forstner) to make the window.

 

 

Axle holes were drilled in 2" from each side and 3/8" from the bottom. I used a 7/32 drill bit for these holes. Since I'm using axel pegs and not a full length dowel, I only drilled the holes deep enough for those. If I wanted to save some time (and chassis had been perfectly square) drilling straight through would have been fine. The cab was glued and clamped flush with the front of the chassis. There are also shallow holes around the front to house the headlights and holes in the back that will be used to pivot the bed.

 

The bed of the truck (you know... the dumpy part of the dump truck) was made from 3/8" wine crate wood. This particular wine crate was from Chile. I marked out and cut the sides of the bed so that a small tab would be at the back of the bed for me to make a hinge.  

Again, I was using pegs so the holes in the bed side are 1/4" to allow free movement around the pegs but the holes behind it in the chassis are 7/32 to allow a tight fit.

 

The bottom part of the bed was the same width as the chassis of the truck. You can see from this photo how the front of the bed rests on top of the bottom part but the bottom part is sandwiched between the sides. The chassis sides were sanded on the belt sander and that little bit of extra clearance allowed the bed to move freely without the bed sides "pinching" the chassis sides.

 

One last note on the bed is that the gate/flap on the back doesn't rest on the floor but butts up against it and uses it as a "stop."  The flap isn't installed here but this shows the gap where it will fit in. This photo also shows where I marked an area of the chassis to be cut off and rounded over to allow the bed to move freely when dumping cargo.

 

The flap needs to be just slightly smaller than the opening at the back of the bed to allow it to swing freely. I drilled 1/8" holes in the flap and slightly larger ones in the sides of the bed. I then inserted pieces of 1/8" dowel from either side into the flap and this formed a hinge. I flush cut the dowels to match the bed sides and now the gate opens as the bed is lifted. This shows the completed assembly from above on the finished toy.

 

 

So here are all the parts cut out, sanded and glued (note that the flap wasn't attached at this point..)

 

And here is everything after several coats of Danish Oil* and the wheels, headlights and flap attached.

 

Final assembly was just putting the pegs through the bed sides and gluing them into the holes in the rear of the chassis. I use a 1/32" scrap as a spacer whenever I'm attaching wheels or pegs to be sure I don't drive the peg in so far as to turn it into a nail and bind the parts.

 

All in all, it was a really easy, satisfying build. The little boy who got this truck seemed very happy with it and so far it has stood up to some drops and overnights in his bed.

So here is "Dumpy" (as he was named by the little boy) in action.

 

 

(* Please Note: No Danes were injured in making of this toy but one Irish/Sicilian American may have gotten a splinter or two.)

 

 

 

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Making a Mobile Shop Cart Using a Car Jack

My space is pretty small, so I knew I was going to have to put my larger, non-bench, tools on wheels. I had seen this amazing post over at Lumberjocks that inspired me. Basically, it is casters mounted to boards on hinges on a wooden base for shop tools. The casters lower with a board that you step on and lock into place. It is a great idea and I really wanted to make it.

When I started though, I realized pretty quickly that the horizontal supports on my base would be in the way and that design wouldn't work. Still, I knew I needed a mobile cart and I would need casters regardless of the final design. I purchased a Harbor Freight 1000lbs rated moving dolly for about $8 and cannibalized the casters. I couldn't buy just the casters for that price. (Lookit! Rusty bolts all the way from China. How EXOTIC!)

All of these types of mobile shop bases are custom sized because there is such a large variety of tool bases and configurations out there. I messed around with a lot of different angles to try and get the original idea to work, but no luck. Then I got lucky when a friend gave me the scissors jack out of her wrecked Honda Fit under the assumption that I would "figure out something to do with it." (Honestly, I get that a lot.)

 

I started to play with that idea and eventually came up with a plan where I had two short levers pointing inward that would get pushed down by a board attached to the jack.  This is the caster flap pulled completely up while I screwed in the lever.

Being, ahem, frugal, I wanted to keep it is as straight forward as possible so the whole build was 2x4 and 2x3s with 3" screws. The "top" that the jack fits into is a little wider than a 2x4 to make sure it doesn't bind when the 2x4 pushes it down. It is attached to the center support 2x4 with 3" screws that alternate so that they don't interfere with each other and the whole assembly is very secure. I did cut notches in the middle support using the jigsaw but other than that everything was just 90 degree cuts

 

Here it is from the front without the jack.

 

 

 And here it is with it. I’m hoping to use the same jack and attached plate for another mobile base since I only have one of these jacks available right now. Clearly, permanently attaching it to the base would be the best option but this is a work in progress.

So here it is extend and below in action. Total cost was under $20 since the jack was free. Still want to make a foot powered one but the effort to raise and lower the jack is minimal

 

 

 

 

On a side note - When working in the shop, a extra set of paws often comes in handy. Lucky for me the other boy in the house was available to assist with some of the measurements.Many paws make light work.

 

 

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Making a Spoked Wheel (Part 3)

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

I've made the hubs of my spoked wheels using a jig with a peg on a board that allows me to cut a circle using a bandsaw with a thin blade. If you are careful (which you always have to be) it is a pretty fast and easy way to make tiny "doughnuts" (mmmmm doughnuts....) However, I have to admit, it is really easy to allow your fingers to get too close to the blade, and that is a really bad idea.

I've recently found that you can buy 3/4" or even better yet 5/8" hole saws and just cut hubs using them. Use a pilot bit the same size as the hole on your previous disk and you can cut use that piece of waste. The disk will still have the radial holes drilled in it, so just use the same sort of jig with the 1/8 dowels to keep it in place. 

Okay, time for the spokes so one more jig. All you need is a thin disk cut with your 2" hole saw and a dowel the size of your axel hole (in this case 1/4".)

• Glue the disk to the dowel (or is it the dowel to the disk?) and make sure the disk and dowel are perpendicular while they dry.
• After your jig dries, clamp the rim to the disk and place the hub over the dowel and push it flush with the disk.
• Push 1/8" dowels through the radial holes of the rim and glue the ends to the hub. (You may need to sand the dowels slightly or run a 1/8" drill bit through the holes quickly to widen them a bit or make the hole more "true.")

The jig guarantees that the axel hole of the hub will be at the center of the wheel.	A snug fit is good because the spokes are glued to the hub and not in the holes of the rim. You can go back and put some glue on the spokes on the inside of the rim if you want.

After the spokes dry, remove the wheel from the jig and cut off the excess dowels.

Sand the wheel and take a moment to revel in the fact that you have stuck it to the man and made your own spoked wheel rather than just buying one.

If your pirate ship should happen to need a new helm, you can always stop a this point.	The finished wheel next to a "pirate" cannon. In the same way that spoked wheel aren't right for the pirate cannon, solid wheels wouldn't be a good match for a field artillery piece.

So there you go. It took far longer to record and photograph the process than it did to make the wheel. Just a couple more words:

Remember, you're building little toy wheels, not components for the Space Shuttle. Don't expect perfection.

I probably should have mentioned to make at least two wheels at a time. (Wheels tend to be needed in even numbers for some reason.)

The bronze and green cannon shown in the first post on this topic was a heavily modified $1 craft store kit that will have its own post one day. This latest wheel is destined for a future toy of this local landmark:

Making a Spoked Wheel
Part 1	|	Part 2	|	Part 3

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