Quickies for the Kids

Anyone want to guess at which one my wife didn’t think was a good idea for a 4 year old?

Anyways, my kids (4 and 6) requested these a few days ago. My son saw a cartoon or something with a slingshot and must have thought he could do some damage with it. He’s a big fan of jumping out of hiding places with Nerf guns and shooting us. The process wasn’t too challenging in any aspect. I used a 5/4 oak board and cut handle close with a bandsaw. I didn’t mess with the arms at this point. I turned the handle between centers (minding my knuckles with the large uncut arm section close). Finished up the arms with a band saw and various sanders. I have about 8 feet of surgical tubing I use to clamp different pieces from time to time. I used the tubing with a leather pouch piece. I went ahead and put a little epoxy on the knots of the tubing to hopefully keep them tight under use. It takes a good amount of pull to draw it. I was concerned about the pull breaking the sling along the grain. I added dowels against the grain in each hand segment as well as a dowel running through each arm. It’s accurate to about 6 or 7 meters when shooting at a one foot target.

My daughter wants an “American Girl Doll” and has been saving up for it. They run about $100 (yeah, crazy huh?). She went to a birthday party with an American Girl theme and that got that started. She’s getting it for Christmas from my parents but she doesn’t know. She’s been wearing out a magazine looking at them and wanted a stand for the doll to put on her bookshelf when not in use ($30 in the magazine). Process wasn’t hard here either. The base is large enough to prevent tipping. Used a dowel rod for the shaft. The arms that slide up and down the dowel are mdf. I used solid wood with the grain going different directions and both broke as the arms are very skinny at points. MDF is the way to go on that one. There’s a threaded insert with a thumb screw to allow it to be locked in place. I had to use spray paint given the mdf, had a lavender color as a leftover from a prior project. The 4th pic shows “Princess Cupcake” in action.

-- Jeff, South Carolina