This will show on how to make a Toy Cat out of Wood

Step 1: Gather Materials

Tools

Bandsaw
Drill Press
Drill Bits
Belt Sander
Router Table
SAFETY GOGGLES

Supplies

Axles and Wheels
Wood Glue
Paint
2X6” Scrap Douglas Fir
⅛:” Ply or MDF
Drill Bit Gauge

Step 2: Find an Image

Go on the internet and find a picture of a cat. The important part is the animal should be recognizable from the side. When you find the picture you want to use, print it out the size you want the toy to be. After printing, you should trace the animal so it looks like a cartoon.

Step 3: Make a Template

Place the cut out the animal picture on the ⅛” PLY or MDF material and then trace out the animal.

Caution: Before going any further, Make sure to check if you can fit the axle holes in your decided area.

Step 4: Cutting Out the Cat

Place the template on the 2X6 '' wood and trace out the animal with a sharpie so you can see your cut out lines. Next, cut out the template on the bandsaw. Before you do this, some tricks for the band saw is to cut with diagonal lines across the legs. This helps reduce stress on the bandsaw while cutting

Step 5: Drilling the Axle Holes

Use your axle for the animal to find the right drill bit size in a drill bit gauge
Find the right drill bit for the axle
Make a small dent in your blank. The drill press can do this very easily but you can also just use a drill bit, and press it in. This dent will help the drill not move everywhere when it is drilling.
Place a scrap piece of wood under the toy and above the drill press table. This will prevent the toy from binding to the drill bit. If the drill bit did bind, the toy will spin out of control and can hurt you.
Drill your axle holes through your toy blank. When using the blank, Drill down and up periodically to let up the wood chips.

NOTE: I had to cut off my cat’s legs because the drill bit was bigger than the legs so I had to just get rid of it. Make sure to check if the drill bit can fit in your animals legs or body!

Step 6: Router the Edges

Rounding over the edges of the toy will make the toy be smoother and have a better fit into the hand of the child.

Place the round over bit into the router table and make sure the edge of the bit is level or slightly lower than the edge of the table.
Test the router bit on a scrap piece of wood first. Adjust the height of the bit as needed.
Router the entire outside of the animal. If there are places that are too small to get the router bit into, you will need to hand sand these places.

Step 7: Sanding Your Animal

Sanding is probably the most important part of the finishing stage because it gets rid of all of the tool marks

Sand all of your tool marks out
While sanding, work your way through the sandpaper starting at 150 Grit and going to at least 220
Before moving to the next step, Make sure all of the tool marks are dealt with.

Step 8: Painting

This is where you can do whatever you want with your toy.

You can paint it with as much or as little paint as you want. For my toy, I wanted to paint green eyes and some whiskers.

Step 9: Glue in Axles and Attach Wheels

Glueing in the Axles and wheels make the toy look more like a toy then just a toy blank

To attach the Axles. Make sure the axles fit well into the axle hole. If you need to drill the hole again, Do this now.
Place a small amount of glue into the axle holes
Put the axle through the wheel
Put the axle and wheel assembly into the glued hole Make sure to leave room and play so that the wheel can spin
Repeat for all 4 wheels

Caution: Do not put the glue on the axle, only put the glue in the axle hole. If put glue on the axle, the wheel will not spin.

TIP: Put cardboard or some leftover MDF/PLYwood between the bottom of the wheel and the top of the drilled axle holes. This ensures that the wheel can spin freely.