The Great All-American Wooden Toy Book (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These three dozen wooden toy projects reflect the late Norman Marshall's naval aviation and engineering background and include airplanes, autos, trains and construction vehicles such as a bulldozer, crane, and steamroller. The designs are not true-to-detail models, but use the bulk qualities of wood in simple ways to give child-appealing stylized versions of the ModelT, F-16, "Santa Fe," etc. Drawings, directions, and materials lists are most adequate for the toys, which measure about a foot in size. While hand tools can be used to make many of the toys, the directions are for power tools, with a bandsaw being quite useful. A brief introduction covers wood, wheels, mass production, gluing, etc. Recommended to crafts collections. W.T. Johnston, Coastal Plain Regional Lib., Tifton, Ga.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Build any one of 50 top-quality toys with the help of exploded diagrams, photos, material lists and detailed step-by-step instructions. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Pr (September 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878576282
• ISBN-13: 978-0878576289
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #432,780 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Projects Without Spending A Mint, September 13, 2000

By	Clint Hunter (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great All-American Wooden Toybook (Reader's Digest Woodworking) (Paperback)

I was looking around to find a few projects which I could work on in my spare time and which didn't require a whole room full of expensive woodworking tools to complete when I stumbled on this book. One nice thing is the nice variety of projects included. There are detailed plans and illustrations of 53 wooden toys. Required skill levels range from beginner (me) to the relatively more experienced woodworker. Projects range from a pretty basic pull along train with an engine and four cars to several variations of cars, airplanes, trucks, constructin vehicles, paddlewheelers, and a variety of locomotives and rail cars.

Each project comes with pictures of the finished product, step-by-step instructions, materials lists, and detailed drawings. The drawings are shown on a grid in which each square equals 1/2 inch. This makes it relatively easy to expand the patterns and transfer them to the wood stock or other material if you choose to make templates for future use.

Most of the projects can be made from relatively inexpensive 1x4 or 1x6 pine. That was a real plus for me. Have you taken a look at lumber prices lately? Tools were not a problem since I had almost all the basic power tools and accessories I needed to get started. I bought a couple of hole saws to make the wheels.

Marshall also includes an introductory chapter in which he discusses wood choice, tool needs, tips on cutting, gluing and clamping, patterns and templats, and finishing. Those who are experienced working with wood will probably find these basic tips unnecessary, but I found them helpful.

All in all, I like what Marshall has included in the book. Some of the projects seem a bit repititous, and many may not be sophisticated enough for experienced woodworkers. However, if you're looking for a fun, inexpensive, and satisfying hobby working with wood, you might want to try this book.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Second Best Book Ever Written for Toymakers, October 10, 2001

By	"labyrinth37" (Warretnon, VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great All-American Wooden Toybook (Reader's Digest Woodworking) (Paperback)

I bought this book a few years ago when I started making wooden toys.
I loved the designs in this book. They ranged from simple to more complext to suit differing levels of skill. Of course as your own level of skill increases, you can confidently tackle some of the tougher projects, although even the toughest of them was not overly difficult.
I began selling the toys I was making from these plans at craft shows. They went like hot cakes! I could not make enough of them. Seems I wasn't the only one who thought these toys were neat.
But for the Toymaker, whether you are a hobbyist, or looking to make a living with them, these toys are easy to make, great looking, and popular!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, July 7, 2001

By	Luis De Leon "Luis" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Great All-American Wooden Toybook (Reader's Digest Woodworking) (Paperback)

The author has a very nice approach to toy making, putting every step in the perspective of the main objective of a toy: making children happy. It has a nice hands-on approach and even when it lacks some detail, the projects look very nice when finished. Making some of the toys as been very challenging because of the limited tools I own, still you can get around most parts with a scroll saw, a hand drill and a belt sander.