Thoughts on making Nativities

I have made a couple of Nativity scenes and will probably continue to make them.  I probably think too much and over analyze things.  Although this is not a religious blog, I would like to share some of the things that go through my mind and challenges I face with each scene.  It starts with the pattern.  In my life this event has great importance.  The birth of our Savior had been prophesied for melenia prior to his birth.  I choose patterns that I feel will portray the significance of this sacred event.  Here are the parts of the nativity from the easiest to cut to the hardest (It does not matter the pattern or set).

• Star -  This little aspect of the Nativity scene guided the Wise men to the baby Jesus.  Honestly the artistic stars look better than the large balls of burning gas.
• Camel - Not ever sure if there was a camel in the nativity, but I am sure that the Wise men had to ride of something.  Granted these Wise men came some time after the birth of Christ. 
• Stable - This is a structure and could be made in several different ways.  At the time it was for animals full of imperfections and probably just barely standing.  Yes it did protect the Baby from the elements.  It was a temporary place. 
• Angel(s) - Not sure where the angel comes from in the scene.  If it is the scriptural account, they should be with the shepherds.  I guess there were angels present in the stable where they are commonly placed.  These angelic figures are represented incorrectly with wings, so I figure they must have some sense of humor or be used to being made with wings.  If you wonder where I get my idea of angels don't have wings; I firmly believe that we are created in the image of God and his children.  He doesn't have wings.  We will also be resurrected to our perfect selves.  I am pretty sure I never had wings.  I apologize to all the angels out there.
• Wise men - They provided a valuable testimony of the birth of our Savior.  They did travel a great distance and watched and waited for the sign of His birth to appear.  They knew of His importance before He was even born.  They were men of importance and I expect they were humble enough to know that if I messed up, they would understand.
• Sheep - My guess is there was sheep in the stable.  They were very common and used as sacrifice in that time.  The lamb was a used several times in the Master's teachings and was a representation of Him when sacrificed.  The lamb needed to be white and without blemish.  I feel I have saved the sheep I make from sacrifice because there are definitely blemishes on them.
• Donkey - This beast of burden carried the mother of Jesus while she was nine months pregnant.  First of all, what and honor for the donkey to be given such a responsibility.  Secondly, I have to wonder if the donkey knew who he was carrying and took extra care and tried to make the journey a little easier.  
• Shepherd - Probably the lowest in rank and privilege and stature that saw the baby Jesus,  but one of the more remarkable.  Angels came to them to announce the Saviors birth.  They went immediately to see and then proclaimed it through out the area what they had witnessed.  I also have to reflect on the role of the Savior as the true shepherd.  His shoes worn walking in front of his herd, constantly looking for and working about the lost sheep and always to ready to help when the need arises. 
• Joseph -  I realize that he would be Christ's step father, but the responsibility he bore was heavy.  He could have condemned Mary, been judgmental and not shown as much care to Jesus because he was "technically" not his son.  He taught Him a trade and brought Him up as his own.  Even though there is not much written about Joseph, I am sure he was a great father.  He did help raise the Savior of the world.  I may be putting him in the place where I put myself in my family and he may have felt the same.
• Jesus - He is not the hardest to cut.  Although perfect in every aspect in life, I know that he will forgive no matter how small or grievous of sin in that I make.  I can slip up and cut where I am not supposed to and I know that he know that I have tried my best.  He is usually the smallest part of the nativity but the biggest part in our lives.
• Mary - I feel there is a special place in hell for those who belittles, offends, mocks or degrades our mothers.  I know that our Savior held his mother in the same respect.  He proved this while hanging on the cross.  Even when dying he made sure his mother was taken care of.  She will always be cut with a new blade and will usually be the last one to be cut out.

Yes, this is what goes through my head with each nativity that I make.  It does not matter if I am making one or several.  Each piece has an important part in the story.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to recreate this remarkable event in history.

If you are wondering what my favorite nativity made is, it is the Alien nativity.  First wood nativity I did.  I failed the first time because I was not experienced on the scroll saw.  I needed a little dose of humility before I could attempt to make it.  I spent two years making puzzles to get accustomed to the scroll saw and gain the confidence to make it.  The pieces are vary much imperfect and several mistakes.  Some of the pieces do not even fit together.  However, through time and patience the scene was complete and I am proud of it.  The second favorite may be a surprise.  It was made before I even started in by wood working hobby.  I don't know if I was even out of grade school at the time.  It is not pictured here and probably will not.  It was made out of plastic canvas.  It is not made well and all parts have glaring mistakes. I was young and it is the first nativity that I did on my own.

Alien Nativity part two.

I do not remember how I came across the shepherds plan but I did.  The bad thing is that I ordered the wrong size.  I ordered the yard size instead of the table top size.  Seriously, the large shepherd was over 30" tall!  I shrunk it down to make it look the same size.  I cannot see how that could be cut out with all the curves.  Anyways, this was a nice little addition to the alien nativity.  It came out nice and seemed a lot easier than the original, probably because I have done a lot more scroll work since the first one.

The only issue is the color does not match.  Wood does age over time.  It will take some time for the shepherds to match.  This was recently displayed at a creche festival by my house.  There were lots of nice displays there.

The new Tug Boat

There are many people that have received a tug boat from me.  It seems to be the baby shower gift of choice.  The original tug boat came from the Making Heirloom Toys.  It was a pretty simple toy that could be made in mass quantities.  There was a couple things that I did not like about it.  The first was the wood that wasted in making these tug boats.  It was a lot of template work so the board had to be wide enough to fit the template.  The second (this was my choice) they were made out of two different woods for color.  This involved gluing pieces together and so there was a a little bit of preparation to make these. I was also not a fan of the router work.  It was a lot of passes for a good smooth finish.  However they were an easy build and I enjoyed making them.  I have worn out two templates and four router bits to make these boats. Each one is unique and does float even though I do not recommend it.  This pattern changes some of the things that I makes it easier for me to make while still maintaining the parts that I love about the original design.

The main thing that I changed was no more pattern routing.  It was a pain to set up and there was a fair amount of waste.  All the parts are cut out either on the table saw or scroll saw.  I still have the two different species of wood for color even though the oak and dark maple do not create a lot of contrast in this one.  Scrap and setup has been reduced.  I also don't ruin router bits and bushings to make this toy.  The roof can also be made out of the cut out from the part that sits on the hull.  My favorite part about this toy.  It is compact and fits in small hands.  There are a lot of places to grip and touch.  It also slides really well on carpet.

Here are a couple of pictures of the old and new versions of the tug boats.  Sorry about the color combination of the old version.  I had beech and green poplar when making them.  It looked better prior to staining.

Here are a couple of things I took away from this project: 

• This is not in my normal scope of design. I would like to design everything our of standard dimensioned lumber.  This has some 1/2" thick pieces in it.  It is not the end of the world.  This is how I am designing all my trucks.
• Shellac goes bad.  It does not take much to finish toys so my one pint of shellac lasts a little while, so I thought.  I ruined some measuring sticks because the shellac did not cure.  I noticed when finishing the boats, it took a little while for the shellac to not be tacky.  I guess shellac does not last long after the bottle has been opened.  So my two options are to make my own shellac or buy the aerosol cans.  I think I will try making my own.  Like most wood terminology the mixture is confusing.  Good thing there is the internet to define what is a  2 lb cut of shellac.
• I am debating whether I need the lower cabin windows.  Opinions would be appreciated.

Monster Truck

Roughly 2 1/2 years ago I started these trucks.  I have been diverted doing other things and projects.  Mostly I was dragging my feet solely on finishing the wheels.  Literally all I had to do was the wheels.  The plans came from the book Tremendous Toy Trucks.  I have done several of the plans and they are well done.  My only complaint is the the undefined shapes.  A lot of the cabs and detail is done when it "looks good".  I have some artistic merit, but really I am an engineer and like things defined.  Overall the monster trucks came out really well.  I made four in total.  My kids get two and I am donating two to a local charity. 

 There was a lot of sanding and shaping.  The majority of the parts were roughed out with a band saw and then shaped into the look.  I have a real appreciation for those individuals who only use hand tools.  There is a trick and a talent to using a rasp and file.  I personally like my belt sander.

 There are some details that were on the plan that I did leave off.  Mostly for safety reasons.  The plans called for a drive train.  I didn't feel some dowels on the under carriage would hold up to the abuse my kids would put it through.  Then I forgot the back bumper.  Opps, it still looks good.

The wheels were seriously my hold up.  It is not that they were that hard.  It is up my ally of cut and sand smooth.  Here are my issues with them.  Each wheel takes two pieces of 3/4" walnut multiplied by four for each truck (16 wheels in total).  Each wheel was cut out using a 2 1/2" hole saw.  It was then sanded down because the hole saw leaves a nasty edge.  The table saw was then set up to make the grooves in the tires.  There were lefts and right for both inside and outside parts. So I had to keep them straight.  I am amazed that I even kept them straight with only a couple of mistakes.  With the cutting the grooves there was a lot of blow out.  I was told that these would be sanded out.  Some blow out was a little deep.  Then each groove had to be hand sanded. When gluing the two parts together I needed to make sure there was no squeeze out because there was no way to sand it out.  Now that they are all done I have to confess, I only made wheels for three of them.  The fourth received manufactured wheels that I purchased.  My wife says it makes the truck look wimpy and she is right.  I could not make another set of wheels.

Here are the cool things that came out of this build:

• I actually made these trucks
• I had a lot of practice sanding and shaping
• I made a circle sanding jig for my belt sander for the wheels
• I got a good after market miter gauge for the table saw
• I have happy kids for the current time

This was a fun build  I really do not anticipate me making any more.  These are almost solid lumber.

Grader

 The grader had a few more issues than I wanted.  The first and most disappointing was the blade did not work.  The lift worked just fine and it rotates.  In the design, I failed to realized I had only a single dowel keeping the blade vertical.  So when the blade pushed something, it would just flop back.  It was solved by a couple of brad nails.  I have fixed the drawings and everything works well now.  The other disappointment was the size.  It was huge compared to the other two pieces.  I took about three inches out of the overall length. and some out of the height.  It is still a pretty wide piece of equipment. 

The overall dimensions are 16 3/4" long, 10" wide (blade), 7 1/4" tall.  The material is poplar and finished in shellac.

Excavator

 

The excavator is my favorite of the three because of all the moving parts.  I am truly grateful for 3D modeling systems.  Without one I would not have been able to design all the moving parts so that they fit together without interference the first time.  This is the only one that requires metal hardware. There are other ways of making the unit spin but lazy susan hardware seemed the most logical and easiest.  I also had to pre-finish most of the parts.  The best part of the excavator is there is a way to move the bucket.  I was not all that pleased with the range of movement of the arm and bucket but I can pick up M&M's and dump them in the dump truck.  That is good enough for me.
The assembly was not all that bad.  I was worried about parts breaking or not lining up. It could not have come together easier.  I am trying something on this.  I hope it works but I do not know.  There really was not a good way to glue in the dowels.  So I cut the dowels 1/4" short and then filled in the space with glue.  I am hoping this works, time will tell.
I felt that the excavator was a little small.  So in the plans I grew the tread a quarter inch and made it wider by a half an inch.  I think this will make it look bigger.  I also changed the cab to look more like the dump truck. I was not really pleased with the set on top roof.  These are reflected in the revised drawings and not on the prototype.

The excavator measures 24" long 7 1/4" tall and 6 1/2" wide and is finished in Shellac.

The Dump Truck

 

This is the first of three projects that I just finished.  I was really excited to start and finish these toys because they are my design!  I have always like to design and so this is a natural step for me.  I have decided to break up each project in its own post.  The first will be the dump truck.
This was probably the easiest of the three but it had some challenges.  It is made out of poplar and oak dowels.  I consider these prototypes so I used a lighter and softer wood.  I used basic power tools and was impressed how easily it came together.  My favorite part of the dump truck is the cab.  I went through about three designs before I realized I could make it hollow.  This made it much lighter, not as many glue ups, and looks a lot better than the solid cabs that I have seen.  The dumping mechanism is the same as the first dump truck I designed.  I also added a lip so that things will actually stay in the bucket when transported instead of falling out.  It is sturdy and not easily broken.  My kids stand and sit on their toys so I knew that I needed to make it durable.  The dowels are both for decoration and strength.  I changed the cab side drawing a little because if the back and top are a little thick, so  the edge can be seen through the window.  So I gave myself a little more factor of safety.

The finish is Shellac and the truck measures 17 1/4" long 8" tall and 6" wide.  It is a good sturdy design for the 3-8 year old child.