Category Archive: Misc. Toys

Oct 06 2011

Walnut Turner’s Cube

Click picture for slideshow A few weeks ago I was digging through the free bin at Rocker and I found a 2-1/2″ square walnut cutoff. The only defect it had was a slight check in the end grain that would hopefully disappear when I cut the hunk of walnut into a cube. …

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Aug 21 2011

Yo-Yo Video

To help you get a better idea of the problems with my first yo-yo, I shot a short video. In the video I try to show how the yo-yo lists to one side and wobbles when it is sleeping. Then I take the yo-yo apart to show how it’s constructed.

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/yo-yo-video/

Aug 16 2011

Yo-Yo Fail-Fail

When I was a kid my dad made me a yo-yo out of oak. It was a simple toy. It had a dowel for the spindle and two oak disks with rounded edges. We didn’t know where to find a proper yo-yo string, so I made my own out of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/yo-yo-fail-fail/

Jul 19 2011

Ladder Toy Video

Here’s a two minute video demonstrating a some of the features of the ladder toy and a few demonstration runs. Of course when I was trying to demonstrate how the peg gets stuck on a rung, the toy wouldn’t cooperate. I had to film several runs before it stuck.

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/ladder-toy-video/

Jul 13 2011

Ladder Toy

I bought a wooden ladder toy in Mexico when I was young, in fact I have always — incorrectly — called them Mexican ladders. The toy had about 8-10 flat rungs over which a wooden peg would “climb” down. I have no clue where my old toy went, but I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/ladder-toy/

May 31 2011

Cube within a Cube

The other day I found a cool Instructable written by sabladask describing how to make a cube within a cube within a cube. I’ve seen wooden object inside on an object pieces carved before, but this concept was so simple I had to try it …

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Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/cube-within-a-cube/

Dec 11 2010

Video: Using the Domino Setter

Here’s a video of me explaining how I built the domino setter I mentioned in my last post and showing how to use it.

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