Simple things

I just finished the easiest, simplest project I’ve done in years. And I couldn’t have had more fun doing it. I told you recently of the articulated dragon toy I’m…

I just finished the easiest, simplest project I’ve done in years. And I couldn’t have had more fun doing it.

I told you recently of the articulated dragon toy I’m making for my grandson Jed. The project is coming along nicely whenever I can find time to work on it, but as it nears completion it’s occurred to me that it may be a bit fragile for a one-year-old. Sure, it’s a fine toy that will entertain him when he has adult supervision, but I wanted to also make something he can bash on the floor, something I’m told (and seem to recall from personal experience) that one-year-olds are wont to do.

So I Googled around a bit and found some simple cars and trucks that he can bash to his destructive little one-year-old heart’s content.

There’s almost nothing to them: some basic car shapes cut out of a scrap of 2x6, a little drilling and sanding, a bag of craft-store hardwood wheels, a bit of oil finish, and they were done. The most difficult part of making these little guys was finding a parking spot at the craft store.

I love making intricate projects in the shop. The articulated dragon I’m working on, which is far more involved than I originally thought, is a good example. So, too, are the painstaking reproductions of 19th-century furniture and Civil War items that have become somewhat of a specialty for me. But these toy cars were just a joy to work on, not least of which was the glorious scent of pine in my shop – I can’t recall the last time I worked with pine, and the aroma triggered a lot of memories.

Who could have known that making these things for my favorite little kid would also reawaken the little kid in me?

A.J.

 A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.