Thread: The Cooroy Toymakers Album

Escape From Absalom is a great film. It's still in our video collection. I'll have to look for you and your furniture next time I pull it out.

Well done with your toys. I can see them fitting in well at the Eumundi Markets. Just keep away from that fairy/facepainter/storyteller; she's nuts!

An uncle used to live in Kin Kin so I know your mill; great repurposing. Our woodturning club uses the local historical railway station but this pales in comparison to working (playing!) at a sawmill.

Keep on posting,
Craig

Thanks for the advice Craig, I've seen the fairy/face painter/storyteller, she thought my tree house and stick furniture would look good at the bottom of her fairy garden
And thank you for the compliments on my work.

I've taken a couple of months off again as sales have been slow. I'll get back into making toys soon as Xmas is almost upon us.
As soon a I create something new I'll post a picture of it here, rest assured. I like to share my ideas and enjoy teaching fellow woodies at the woodworkers club how to make toys.

At present I'm working alongside other woodies making small items for our show bags. Below are a few of the things we put in our show bags.
I can recommend this idea to any clubs that want to make some extra money for little overhead.
09-Wooden-Heart-puzzle-toy.jpgDSCF6643.JPGDSCF6645.JPGDSCF6648.JPGDSCF6649.JPGDSCF6650.JPGH-136-004.jpgDSCF6559 - Copy.JPGDSCF6625.JPGDSCF6626.jpgDSCF6627.JPGDSCF6628.JPGDSCF6629.JPGDSCF6630.JPGDSCF6631.JPGDSCF6632.JPGDSCF6633.JPGDSCF6634.JPGDSCF6635.JPGDSCF6636.JPGDSCF6637.JPGDSCF6638.JPGDSCF6639.JPGDSCF6640.JPGsmall ring box 2.jpgsmall ring box.jpg

Yesterday was the official opening of the Saw Mill Interpretation Site at Cooroy, Qld.
As the Editor of our newsletter I was present for the proceedings.
It is a great idea for children to learn about the history of the timber industry in their home town.

http://www.lowermillsite.com.au/

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All the best in your endeavours
The Cooroy Toymaker

Thank you for the great display of toys/photos, much appreciated..... Cheers, crowie

looks like you had fun making all the toys. Especially like the puzzles

Hello again,

The Cooroora Woodworkers Club open day is on Saturday and as usual I'm busy in the man cave.
Here are a few samples of my recent work. Two smaller tree houses and some accessories for them.
DSCF6825.JPGStarted on 2 tree houses. Ground floor and first floor with support posts completed
DSCF6826.JPGSecond floor installed
DSCF6827.JPGthird floor with a deck on tree house no. 1
DSCF6828.jpgTree house no 2 almost completed , make the steps next
DSCF6829.JPGtree house with no extras like steps etc.

DSCF6830.JPGfirst set of steps in place
DSCF6833.JPGCompleted tree house with steps and rails
DSCF6837.jpgA few accessories for the tree house....more trees :/
DSCF6840.JPGdragons
DSCF6841.JPGand more dragons. Keeping it simple!

All the best
The Cooroy Toymaker.

Always love reading your posts, especially since i know there will
be a tribe of happy youngsters as a result of the efforts.

Hey Cooroy Toymaker
Just looking at my old book "Simple Wooden Toymaking" by Bob Mathias and I found the plans for the castle in a box (or "foldaway fort") as it was called in the book. I scanned pages 60 and 61 as these have the essential bits and with the scale of one square equals half an inch, anyone should be able to whip up the castle.

Cheers

Superfoot

Wow, thanks Superfoot, I have not seen that book in 25 years. Well done. I'd even forgotten the name of the book. Must see if I can get one on ebay.
Thank you for photo copying the pages for us. This will make it a lot easier for members to make one for them selves.
castle front view.JPGDSCF1802.JPGDSCF3129.jpg
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I'll post larger copies of the finished castle here.
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And now for something completely different.
Another big day in santa's workshop. That guy is a slave driver !
3 medium sized planes completed, 8 small planes, 2 small helicopters and 3 medium sized helicopters to finish.
Then I start on more stick tree house furniture. I might quit and go work for the easter bunny...chocolate hmmmmmm....
DSCF6911.jpg larger planes ready for assembly
DSCF6914.JPG a few coming off the assembly line with a lot more work to do tomorrow .
Have a good weekend everybody.
The Cooroy Toymaker

Hello fellow Woodies,
Last weekend our woodworkers club had an open day. The weather threatened to turn bad with storms building in the morning. But we persevered regardless. The visitor numbers were down because of the weather but the members were out in force to support the activities and the club, which, if anything, made for a good social day. It was our first open day for the club in the 25 years we have been open. The highlight was the Scottish Bagpipes Marching Band from Noosa. A couple of our members who still speak with a broad Scottish accent had tears in their eyes. All in all it was a good learning experience for the club. At 1pm the skies opened and that ended an other wise nice day. Next year will be better I'm sure.
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DSCF6862.JPGtitle pic.jpg

All the best in your endeavours
The Cooroy Toymaker

Looks like it could have been a great day, shame about the weather. It is good when you get so many members help with an event such as this. Do you find it is always the same ones who help or are you a lucky club where everybody chips in.

Originally Posted by Dalboy

Looks like it could have been a great day, shame about the weather. It is good when you get so many members help with an event such as this. Do you find it is always the same ones who help or are you a lucky club where everybody chips in.

It's usually a core group of men who carry the burden of running the club. With 120 members about 30-40 are regular at meetings and contribute. Pleasing 120 members is a big task, especially with so many disciplines. The open day required an enormous effort by one member to encourage the turnout of members we had. On the day they all did their bit, if only for a couple of hours. I and a few others were there from start to finish. My contribution to the club is as the editor of the newsletter.
Sadly some people ( A few ) join the club for $50 for a year, come in, use and abuse the equipment by working on their own projects , finish them, then you never see them again. Machinery maintenance is a big problem handled by 2-3 very competent men. 3-4 new members join every month, we encourage a buddy system to assist them and show them the ropes.
There will always be problems with getting enough volunteers to do the work in any club. Having said that after 25 years our club is growing steady with good leadership, excellent equipment, tons of donated timber and a fine workshop and club house. I'm very happy to be a member and put back a little of my time to make it an outstanding venue for men and women of our little community.
The best to all
the Cooroy Toymaker
NL 196 December 2013.pdf

I'm so jealous! Where I live I don't even seem to be able to find ONE person to talk to about making toys! But i just love your work: it's inspiring me to make new things all the time. Thanks for the pics and plans.

Originally Posted by Leo_3344

I'm so jealous! Where I live I don't even seem to be able to find ONE person to talk to about making toys! But i just love your work: it's inspiring me to make new things all the time. Thanks for the pics and plans.

Your welcome Leo, thank you for the compliments.

All the best in your projects

regards

The Cooroy Toymaker

Looks like it would have been a very good day.