Hands on Traditional skills and where to learn them

Making wooden toys

What is it?When you think about handmade toys, you probably visualise something made of wood: hobby horses, arks, doll's houses, trucks and tractors.

How is it done?Steve Martin (handmadetoys4U.ie, 0504-34872) makes doll's houses, wooden trucks, tractors, arks and animals. He carves and then paints or varnishes each piece. "I start by cutting the piece from birch plywood sheets using a table saw, and then use a scroll saw for the intricate work," he says.

Once cut, each piece is sanded down and, in the case of the ark animals, fitted together and sanded again. Then he paints on layers of water-based, ecofriendly primer, undercoat and top-coat paint.

“I try to make each piece unique by varying the colours slightly; or the child’s initials or name can be added,” he says.

Dan Hillman (hobbyhorsetoys.com, 087-2038385) makes hobby horses and, more recently, dragons from windfallen or site-clearance sycamore that has been cut into planks at a local timber mill.

“I start by drawing the template on to the timber and use a hand-held jigsaw to cut the rough shape out. Then I screw the template on to this and use a router table to take off the excess timber, and sand the two faces of the horse or dragon,” he says.

Then the toy is ready for painting. “I give it a base coat, leave it to dry and then use an acrylic paint and varnish, or a brand called Old-Fashioned Milk Paint, and an auto lacquer. All the paints are safety-tested.”

How long does it take?Martin says it takes 30 hours to make a truck, or an ark with animals. It takes about 25 hours to make a doll's house. Hillman says it takes about three hours to make a hobby horse and about five hours to make a dragon.

Where can I sign up?Neither Martin nor Hillman offers classes or courses, but you can learn how to work with wood at evening classes around the country – eveningclasses.ie is a good place to start if you live in Dublin.