Tales of a Toymaker

My name is Don Smillie and I joined SAWS a little over five years ago to learn better techniques for toy making, which I started 15 +/- years ago when our first grandsons were born.

My woodworking journey has been characterized by multiple “on and off” eras:

• Beginning when I was four or five and my father gave me nails to entertain myself with by pounding them into blocks of wood while he did “whatever”

• Continuing 20 years later with the purchase of a house that came with a workbench and projects that needed doing (bathroom vanity, bunk beds for young children, etc.)

• 30 years after that getting my own small workbench (Sjoberg 60 inch version) and a few tools so I could make toys for grandchildren, mostly using images from the Internet. I started with tugboats that were barely “bathtub seaworthy’ followed by trucks, buses, tractors, tanks, a road grader (made from a real pattern), fairy doors, cradles, trains, etc.) and other family members (tractors) who grew up on (or spent summers working on) farms in the Ottawa Valley. Also boxes, breadboards & “stuff” for the adults in my life.

Rather than a year-round pastime woodworking for me is for the winter when the gardening, cycling, hiking and other warm weather outdoor activities are on hold.

Basic tools

I decided several years ago that I wanted to remain “basic” in terms of tools. I work in a small part of my basement mechanical room and my two car heated garage (it has to be kept tidy enough to accommodate two vehicles year-around).

Early on in the “toy making era” I equipped myself with a few power tools (mostly Craftsman from SEARS - 10 inch table saw, 6 inch band saw, 12 inch bench belt sander, drill press plus a Bosch Router) and a few hand tools, mostly from Lee Valley (chisels, measuring devices, clamps, etc.) along with a some holdovers from my father’s workbench (rasps, wrenches, small Stanley plane). The exhaust ports of the basement power tools are connected to our house vacuum system while I use a shop vac in the garage connected to the table saw / router combination.

SAWS caught my attention one year when some members were manning “the cabin” in the Stampede Art Show where some fine toys were on display. So I joined. I will never likely become a talented furniture or musical instrument maker like a couple of my sons or like many of the SAWS members – but then my Standards Committee is made up mostly of pre-teens - not professionals!!

I generally try to use offcuts or other discards plus some add-ons like headlights, drivers, windows – e.g. old pieces of stair railing make great trains; cut-out “scraps” make good racing cars; 2 x 4s make fine tractor trailer sets. I often add an inlay – router mounted upside down on the table saw is invaluable for doing this!!

For finishes I look for ones that are durable and yet safe for kids to handle.

One question most toymakers will run into is what to do with all these toys they produce. I started out giving them away and still do some of that. But mostly now I ask people for a charitable donation. They give me the specified donation when they get the toy. I make the donation to the organization of my choice and get the tax receipt. That approach seems to work well for most people as well as for me.