This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick answer. My
7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some building blocks. Weeellll,
I'm sure that's what she said. Humer me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a finish?
They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)

Maple is a great choice.

"Al" wrote in message
...
This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick answer.
My 7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some building blocks.
Weeellll, I'm sure that's what she said. Humer me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a finish?
They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)

Al wrote:

This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick
answer. My 7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some
building blocks. Weeellll, I'm sure that's what she said. Humer
me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a
finish? They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)

Little thinking outside the box here, but... wouldn't it make sense to
toddle down to the local toy store and just pick up some blocks? Do
you really have the urge to carve letters and figures into a bunch of
little pieces of wood?

-Joe Barta

Sure do. I'm retired and love to make things for our 9 kids and 25 Gkids.
What are Gpa's for?
And have lots of hard maple.

Al in WA

Al wrote:

Sure do. I'm retired and love to make things for our 9 kids and
25 Gkids. What are Gpa's for?
And have lots of hard maple.

Al in WA

I can dig it. But I suppose you and I have different ideas of fun. Fun
for me would be one or two blocks. Beyond that...

Just the blocks alone can be enough. No need for letters or numbers.
The kids these days! Tom

tom wrote:

Just the blocks alone can be enough. No need for letters or numbers.
The kids these days! Tom

Well that just takes all the sport out of it! I suppose they can learn
how to spell by popping in the "Learn Your ABCs in 26 Easy Steps" CD
into the computer.

Personally, I think if I were a little dude, I'd want MY grandpa to
take that maple and make me a wooden hammer and some wooden boxes to
beat on and make a ****load of noise! Keep the blocks ;-)

Joe Barta

You raising your own country there Gpa.......?

Just take a good look at the "commercial" ones though and you'll see how the
edges and corners are eased over ever so nicely. I don't know that any
finish is applied since it probably wouldn't last long but I do recall
someone here saying they colored some blocks by soaking them in a pot of
food safe dye. Never tried it myself so I have no idea how it would come
out.

Bob S.

"Al" wrote in message
...
Sure do. I'm retired and love to make things for our 9 kids and 25 Gkids.
What are Gpa's for?
And have lots of hard maple.

Al in WA

in article , Joe Barta at
wrote on 12/23/05 7:11 PM:

Al wrote:

This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick
answer. My 7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some
building blocks. Weeellll, I'm sure that's what she said. Humer
me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a
finish? They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)

Little thinking outside the box here, but... wouldn't it make sense to
toddle down to the local toy store and just pick up some blocks? Do
you really have the urge to carve letters and figures into a bunch of
little pieces of wood?

-Joe Barta

Joe

You're being Practical and Cost Effective (maybe not a bad idea
but......) Seems Al wants to make something for someone no matter the cost
nor time.
S.W.M.B.O. spent almost two years making a knitted Ark AND Animals for a
Great Nephew.
Point is you can't spend efficiently to replace what you make
personally.

Ed

Al
When we were young my Dad made me blocks out of 2X material. The were
in single, doubles, triples and quads. We had hundreds of them and we
always had enough to build whatever we wanted. I am sure he just set up
and made them from all the scrap wood he could gather.
Dad is of course long gone but my Sister and I fondly remember the
blocks we had as children.

Bob AZ wrote:

were in single, doubles, triples and quads.

Now THAT'S a cool idea. I was thinking simple cubes, but what you
describe certainly might be a lot of fun to play with.

I was lincoln log/tinker toy kinda kid. No legos, but we had something
similar... red plastic interlocking "bricks", complete with realistic
lintels, doors, windows and cardboard roof panels. Damn, spent MANY
hours building cool houses and all sorts of neat stuff. I do remember
being a little short on imagination. I built many times over the
example plans and pictures included with the kits, but whenever I
tried coming up with something original it came out a little goofy.
Still have that problem today. When it comes to woodworking I lean
heavily on the creativity of others. Sorry, rambling. It happens.

Joe Barta

I grew up with lincoln logs and tinker toys. Hope we're not getting too old
for them. My next favorite, when it came out, was Gilberts Erector Sets.
Sorry Guys, not wood, but I enjoyed them for years, especialy after I got a
motor in a new set.

Don't get the wrong idea, I am not old, just a good imagination.

Al over 68

"Al" wrote in message

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a finish?
They will be chewed on.

I don't think you really need a finish, but I'd put some shellac on them to
seal the dirt out.

As others have said, you probably could get away with no finish at all but
if you want to use one I would go with mineral oil or salad bowl finish (the
same stuff you might use on a cutting board).

Lee

--
To e-mail, replace "bucketofspam" with "dleegordon"

_________________________________
Lee Gordon
http://www.leegordonproductions.com

When my son was little I bought a large set of blocks for him from the
educational supply store. They were solid hard maple, eased edges as
another poster described, with no finish whatsoever. Most of them got
sold at a yard sale maybe ten years ago, but one box of them was still
around, and I gave them back to my son, who now has two little girls of
his own, ages 4 and 1.

--Steve

Al wrote:
This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick answer. My
7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some building blocks. Weeellll,
I'm sure that's what she said. Humer me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a finish?
They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:59:56 -0800, "Al"
wrote:

This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick answer. My
7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some building blocks. Weeellll,
I'm sure that's what she said. Humer me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a finish?
They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)


I've been thinking about making some wooden "unit" blocks for my
nephew. I did some research and found out that the standard "unit"
block that you'll find (or at least you could many years ago, probably
not PC or something nowadays) in kindergartens which come in a variety
of shapes are based on the standard "unit" of 1-3/8" x 2-3/4" x
5-1/2".

Do a google search for "wooden unit blocks" and you'll find lots of
ideas on what shapes can be made. Pretty expensive too. Sets with 50
blocks of hard maple go for $175. Prices go up from there. Not
something that most of us can afford but wonderful blocks. I remember
them fondly from my childhood. With a table saw, bandsaw, and a belt
sander I think you could set up some jigs and make a really nice set.
With a little more work you can come up with a wheeled box to hold all
of the blocks and you'll be giving the granddaughter a gift that will
last her many years.

These aren't the ABC blocks they're the ones that you could make those
buildings, castles, and cities with.

Good luck.

Maple, is an excellent choice, it is smooth and is not prone to
splinters. No finish is required, they may get a bit grimy but can
easily be lightly sanded to clean them up.

I would do a search online and get the dimensions of a good set of
"UNIT BLOCKS" they can be built into many shapes and make
"mathemactical sense" without being overtly educational, more pure fun.

They slightly larger size works well for small hands. I know my
largest was about 1" 3/4 by 2/1/2 x 11"

Making them in a fine idea, I made a set for my daughter out of western
big leaf maple that my dad cut down. I used to climb on them when I
was a kid and now they are being played with and slowly becoming
furniture for my daughter.
Lee Gordon wrote:
As others have said, you probably could get away with no finish at all but
if you want to use one I would go with mineral oil or salad bowl finish (the
same stuff you might use on a cutting board).

Lee

--
To e-mail, replace "bucketofspam" with "dleegordon"

_________________________________
Lee Gordon
http://www.leegordonproductions.com

Use a good Grade of Sugar Pine,
Go for it,
Good Luck,
George
"Al" wrote in message
...
This has probably been hashed here many times but I need a quick answer.
My 7 month old Grand daugther said she wanted some building blocks.
Weeellll, I'm sure that's what she said. Humer me.

Got lots of wood but not sure what kind to use and does it need a finish?
They will be chewed on.

Al in WA (Haven't made it to Mt yet.)

Before you get too scientific, some observations on my experiences of
children and 'bits of wood'. In the past i sold my offcuts 50
pence/plastic shopping bag full for kindling. Result - mothers coming
back for more, not for the fire, for their children who preferred the
offcuts than all their plastic toys. If you make blocks all they do is
stack, offcuts of all shapes have endless possibilities. Splinters !
Part of growing up.

Actually, the safest and cheapest food safe die is Kool-Aid! Just mix up a
package of un-sweetened and experiment with the length of soak for the wood
you are using.

--
LARRY CHAPMAN
"Bob S" wrote in message
...
You raising your own country there Gpa.......?

Just take a good look at the "commercial" ones though and you'll see how
the edges and corners are eased over ever so nicely. I don't know that any
finish is applied since it probably wouldn't last long but I do recall
someone here saying they colored some blocks by soaking them in a pot of
food safe dye. Never tried it myself so I have no idea how it would come
out.

Bob S.

"Al" wrote in message
...
Sure do. I'm retired and love to make things for our 9 kids and 25
Gkids. What are Gpa's for?
And have lots of hard maple.

Al in WA

"Joe Barta" wrote in message
.. .


Personally, I think if I were a little dude, I'd want MY grandpa to
take that maple and make me a wooden hammer


Why??? She'll learn to chunk the blocks at the cat by the time she's 9
months old. ;-(

RM~

Sat, Dec 24, 2005, 2:11am (EST+5) (Joe*Barta) doth
mumble:
Little thinking outside the box here, but... wouldn't it make sense to
toddle down to the local toy store and just pick up some blocks? Do you
really have the urge to carve letters and figures into a bunch of little
pieces of wood?

It ain't rocket science. If I was really hard core, I'd look into
one of thoe letter routing thingies. Or, use a woodburner. Or, chip
carve. Or, draw them on with a marker. Or, just cut out a pciture, and
glue it on - Titebond is food safe.



JOAT
You'll never get anywhere if you believe what you "hear". What do you
"know"?.
- Granny Weatherwax

My wife and I just made a set of blocks for our grandkids. They were
patterned after the building blocks you see in toy stores and a lot of
educational toy sites. The include squares, rectangular shaped ones,
arches, slabs, shingles, etc. Also some cylinders of a couple of sizes.
Even threw in odd cuts of some scrap maple stair rail. We selected three
pretty clear 8' 2x4's from the local lumber yard for most of them. Scrap
1-1/4" dowel and stair rail for the rest. Made about 130 blocks and the
kids love them. It took about 3-4 hours to cut them out and sand them (two
of us working). Biggest deal was application of one very wet coat of
mineral oil. They had to be supported on the edge of scraps and flipped
several times before they dried. The set pretty well fills one of the large
Tupperware storage containers. I'll post some pics on abpw.

RonB

RonB wrote:
My wife and I just made a set of blocks for our grandkids. They were
patterned after the building blocks you see in toy stores and a lot of
educational toy sites. The include squares, rectangular shaped ones,
arches, slabs, shingles, etc. Also some cylinders of a couple of sizes.
Even threw in odd cuts of some scrap maple stair rail. We selected three
pretty clear 8' 2x4's from the local lumber yard for most of them. Scrap
1-1/4" dowel and stair rail for the rest. Made about 130 blocks and the
kids love them. It took about 3-4 hours to cut them out and sand them (two
of us working). Biggest deal was application of one very wet coat of
mineral oil. They had to be supported on the edge of scraps and flipped
several times before they dried. The set pretty well fills one of the large
Tupperware storage containers. I'll post some pics on abpw.

RonB



I just made a whole bunch out of scrap hard maple for my 1-1/2 YO
grandson. I was thinking of using walnut oil to finish but LOML said
unfinished was fine. Used a roundover router bit in my shaper on most
edges before cutting final lengths. Did the rest on my belt sander as
well as touchup.

I got the sizes out of an article about making kids blocks in the
September, 2005 issue of WOOD magazine. The article also talked about
dying and finishing them. Basicaly, everything is based on multiples of
3/4" and 1-1/2. Thickneses are 3/4, 1-1/2, 3. Widths are 3/4 and 1-1/2.
Lengths are 1-1/2, 3, 6. Also made some with half circle cut out, some
triangles, some with casselated tops.

BTW, LOML and I had fun "testing" them out before she wrapped them.

-jj

--
Remove BOB to email me

I wish All you Wreckers and your Families a Very Merry Christmas.

Wow, can't believe the response. Thank you all for your input. We have
such a great bunch of people here. I guess block making will start after
the holidays. The daugther with the 7 mos old has been telling her sisters
that Gpa is making blocks for Breanna. Phone rings, "Pop, your grandkids
here would love some building blocks." "O-K, Honey I'll just make a few
more." Didn't end there either, can you believe, I now have orders for 5
sets of blocks. One set for Great-Great Gchild. Mmmm, didn't think I was
that old ?

Don't have enough maple for more then 2 sets (if I make 130 pcs. like RonB).
I do have a lot of Alder and will do some checking to see if it's safe for
the little munchers. All No. 1 grade up to 8/4.

So I have my work (fun) cut out for me. SWMBO just came out to my shop
(Doghouse) to say some of the kids are here so better say, Merry Christmas
and Good Night.

Al in WA

Remove x's to email.

Al wrote: snip So I have my work (fun) cut out for me.snip
So, you gonna inscribe all
those blocks? Tom