How to build a wooden toy dog with ease

Step 1:

STEP 1: Supplies you will need are:

Material: 1x6x8 piece of wood, paper and cardboard

Tools: Band-saw, Drill press, router table, belt sander, and a hand sander.

Step 2:

STEP 2:First thing to is find a picture of the animal you want. Once you have it cartoonize it, so that you have an easy template to cut, with no real intricate edges or designs. Map out the shape and where your wheel will go, then cut paper to shape. One could just glue the paper onto the wood, but glue it to a cardboard to give it more structure when you trace it onto the wood.

Step 3:

STEP 3: Cut your wooden toy to shape. First use the miter saw to cut it to width or small enough to cut on the bandsaw. Now cut a rough shape of it out using the bandsaw, you can cut angles but not much so try and cut mostly straight lines.

Step 4:

STEP 4: Now that the toy is cut, it’s time to drill out the holes for the wheels. Even though wheel won’t be attached till the end, it’s good to get everything cut/drilled before the sanding so you don’t have to go back over. Using a drill bit fitted to the axial size you have, in my case a 7 mm worked perfect, drill into the pre-marked spots on the toy. Be sure to clear out wood chips and take time to drill to avoid complications.

Step 5:

STEP 5: Once the toy is rough cut, go to the router table. On both side of the toy router against the whole shape of the toy to soften the edges and round out the toy.

Step 6:

STEP 6: Now that the toy is cut and routered you can begin the sanding process. It’s important to take you time and really get out all the kinks, edges, and jagged cuts from the saw out so it can be safe for use. Spend the majority of the time sanding the sides you cut and even routered. Once that's all smooth then spend a bit on the ‘face’ of the toy and any little touch ups.

Step 7:

STEP 7: For this step you will need a piece of paper. Use the paper to create a “design” sheet for how you toy will look like painted or colored. This ensures no mistakes as you begin the painting process. Since the dog only needs an eyes, ears, and nose not much paint will be used. Matter of fact I only used a black paint pen to color these parts.

Step 8:

STEP 8: Make sure all paint or color is dry (about 20 minutes or more) then for a optional step add a protective layer of lacquer. Spray light thin coats and let them dry for 10 minute min. Between each, two to three will do the job. DON’T soak the toy, it does not need much.

Step 9:

Step 9: After everything is dry and set its time to assemble the final part, the wheels. Attach the wheel to the axils. To do this make sure the knob at the end of the axil it flush to the raised part of the wheel. Once all four are assembled correctly dry fit them in and roll to ensure all it set correctly. Now add a bit of glue in the two hole, on BOTH sides and gently push all four axles in. To avoid the wheels glueing to the toy give a little space between the wheels and the toys and wipe any glue that come out. Set to dry for a good hour or more. Now your toy weiner dog is complete.

Step 10:

Completed Project: Finally all done, the wooden toy dog will be perfect gift for young kids and children. Seeing as it has has soft edges and no points it will be safe for use for all ages. Personally I will use this as an ornament maybe, but my main use for it will be to donate it to a kid so they can have a toy. The whole process was quite simple actually and took no time really to finish up and complete. One thing I would note is to take care when attaching the wheels, the glue will push out and stick the wheel.