Laramee Logs

Larramee (Not Lincoln) Logs

You know, I kind of still like playing blocks. Maybe woodworking is just an extension of how I liked to play with them as a child. I remember the Erector Set too. Combining the Erector Set and Blocks was so much fun and such a journey through the imagination I used to love Lincoln Logs. They have made a semi-comeback. Have you priced a set lately? If you are in your local store, check it out or look on line. (Looking on line for Lincoln Logs seems like … time travel.)

I wondered how to involve my grandson, recently earning the right to show four fingers when you ask him his age, in making some simple toys. Of course he wasn’t going to run the more dangerous machines, but what could he do to help make his own toys? How would he gain a vested interest in his toys instead of seeing them as just another thing his mom makes him pick up at the end of the day?

I started thinking of our own version of logs and blocks. Needing a name, I discussed it with my grandson. I thought Larramee Logs would be nice. It would combine Larry and Jeremy, our two names, in the name of the toys we would make together.

He thought Jeremy Logs would be better. Can you imagine that? Just turning four years old and already angling for top billing? Laramee Logs it was! We need to keep in mind to whom the Alpha Dog title belongs …

In the pictures, you will see the blocks/logs and the equipment used to make them. The brace and bit is where Jeremy comes in. He helps turn the round tenon on the end of the logs. We only have as many logs as he is willing to stay focused on at any given time. This means about four tenons at a time or two logs. That doesn’t matter. He has six of them now and plays with them like crazy.

I use the jig I made to place the holes in the blocks in the same place each time. You can see the way the Forstner bit is positioned for repeated hole drilling. So far the blocks are either three inches square or three by six inches long. The scrap bin is where I find the materials.

We are going to mix up the length of the logs and the sizes of the blocks as time goes, but you can see there is a lot of potential there.

We have our own tool box we keep the Laramee Log tools in.

Maybe we should make a box to keep the blocks in.

The basic round tenon and round mortise is just the thing he needs to add to his young encyclopedia of joinery.

Life is good.

-- Chance Four "Not Just a Second Chance"