Popular Post Bombarde16 Posted July 11, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 10-year old daughter is in town for the summer and needs non-tablet means of being entertained. My brother and his wife just added a kid, so we need to do something nice for the new baby. You can see where this is going. Inspiration comes from a snapshot of a toy at a friend's house: I think they said they got it at IKEA. The original is beech but mine is southern pine with poplar dowels. Color scheme is entirely the work of the little one. Some reflections for the eternal quest to get kids involved in woodworking: Far and away, her favorite part was feeding the board into the thickness planer. Hamster bedding sprays out the back! What could be more fun? She found the repetitive work of cross-cutting the dowels to be quite boring and I almost lost her to the tablet at this point. She got back into it at the drill press, where she could line up the laser beams with the pencil marks. I handled the sanding, routing, and sprayed the clear coat. Painting project parts is, as always, more fun for kids than for adults...or is it? 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted July 11, 2018 Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 I love this. Of the 3 grand kids of mine that love to work in the shop with me, only the 13 YO girl shows any kind of aptitude, and she has plenty. But it's always a great time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Really cool project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Good family fun all around. Some times you think it isn't going over to well, then you find out they could't wait to tell friends what they did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Wait a minute, you painted SYP? What a travesty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Yours looks 1,000 times better than the IKEA one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted July 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 29 minutes ago, K Cooper said: Wait a minute, you painted SYP? What a travesty. The base is SYP. The blocks are poplar dowels from the BORG. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 I fondly remember many hours in the basement shop with my dad and in my grandfathers shop too. Kudos for including her and passing on some shop skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Great project. I like it. My 6 year old grandson just had a jump in his attetion span so that he can drill more than one hole on teh drill press and still be interested. I asked him if he wnated to drill more holes and make a pencil holder, Yeah! grabbed a small chunk of 8/4 maple. I held the combo square while he swiped the pencil along it to locate 8 holes. Had to help a little to advance the drill bit with the deep holes but he stuck to it and then I let him paint it. Not sure why he chose pink. About 30 minutes. It's starting to be fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondhockey Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Sounds to me like he's ready to make a few router bit holders for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted December 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Revisiting an old topic over the new year. I met up with the extended family in question and found that this toy is still in use...though not by the child we thought we were building for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 It does make you feel good to see something you made being put to good use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corbett C. Smith Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 I can relate, although there sure is a great feeling associated with making something and providing joy/kid entertainment at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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