Miniature Toy Pounding Bench Tutorial Part 1

I am soooooooo overdue in updating my blog!   So sorry to those who have been consistently viewing and reading it!   My day job keeps me busy and rarely have time to make anything worth blogging about!  But after a year and a half - here is another tutorial - it seems like it should have been very simple but had a lot of pieces so I made it a two-parter.
 Part 1 - cutting and shaping the pieces.
 Part 2 will be decorative painting, assembling and finishing.
 

Why a toy pounding bench? I'm working on a peddler's cart that sells toys.  I wanted some toys that didn't look manufactured but hand made.   I had this kit from eons ago that I probably picked up at a round robin (make it and take it). The kit consisted of 4 toothpicks, 3 flat pieces of wood and a small section of a dowel.  There was no photo or instructions - but I had drawn a diagram and put it in the bag with the pieces.   I thought I would see what I could do with it.  So here we go...
 

Materials Needed:
Basswood 1/16th inch thick by ½” wide, about 3 inches long (scrap piece or Hobby Lobby)
Dowel, 3/16th inch diameter (small piece – mallet end)
Round toothpicks, several (for pegs and mallet handle)
(optional – carved end round cocktail toothpicks – for mallet handle)
Other scrap wood to test drill hole and to drill into (save your table or cutting mat!)
Paint or stain
Glue
Varnish (I used water based)

Tools:
X-Acto knife with pointed #11 blade
Metal files for shaping.  I used three for this project: Round “rat tail” metal file [about 1/8th inch] & Smaller round file for enlarging drilled holes (about 1/16th inch diam) & a tiny triangle file (Micro Mark)
Sandpaper, 220 (shaping) and 400 grit (smoothing before painting)
Paintbrush
Corsage pin or T-pin
(optional) Small stylus, ball diameter about 1/32nd inch or smaller – to paint dots
Tool for holding small pegs while painting (I used small copper flat end alligator clips – like are used for electronics)
Drill bits – to match toothpick diameter  (5/64th inch and  3/32nd inch)
Miter box and razor saw with fine teeth
Dremel rotary tool or drill
 

Some of the materials and tools

Instructions – Mallet:
From the dowel, cut about 3/8 “ long.  Make sure both ends are squared with respect to the length.  Use 220 grit sandpaper to square it.  Use 400 grit sandpaper to sand it smooth.

Drill a hole in the center of the dowel for the handle with either 5/64th inch bit.  DON’T DRILL ALL THE WAY THROUGH!  If you taper the end of the handle a little it might fit in the smaller size hole.
For the handle you can either cut a plain toothpick or make it fancy by using one of those cute carved end toothpicks.  If using a plain one, cut off almost all the tapered end.  Leave a little bit of taper so it will help to fit it into the hole (or you can just use sandpaper to taper).  Smooth the handle with 400 grit (don’t use 220 or you might sand the carved detail off).
Set these aside to be painted when you paint the other parts (don’t glue them yet).

Instructions - Side Panels:
From 1/16th inch thick,  ½ inch wide basswood, cut 2 pieces ¾ inch long.

Shape the end pieces - Steps shown below starting from bottom.  Make a paper template with holes marked.  Lay the template on the wood piece and mark holes in wood with a corsage pin (make a big dent). Drill holes (I used 5/64th bit) then enlarge them to the clover shape with a rat tail (round) metal file OR 220 sandpaper wrapped around a small diameter paintbrush handle.

Once the side panels are shaped, sand the cutout and smooth with 400 grit sandpaper.  
Sand the flat faces and straight edges also with 400 grit sandpaper before staining/painting.

Shaped end panels

Instructions for Pegs:
Pick a few toothpicks that are the best looking without splinters, rough spots, flat sides.  Also make sure they are consistent diameter so they will all fit in the drilled holes.  Pick enough so that when tapered ends are removed you have enough for 6 or 8 pegs.  Before cutting them, sand with 400 grit just to smooth them.  If you use 220 you might make them too small or inconsistent.

After sanding, cut off the tapered ends so that the remaining center sections are consistent thickness all along the length.  From these, cut 6 or 8 pegs (as desired).  Mine were about 1/2 inch long.
To make several pegs the same length using your miter box, clamp a “stop” (scrap piece of wood, at least 1/8th inch thick) to the front edge of the miter box at the desired distance from the blade groove (see photo).

Before cutting pegs, make sure the toothpick end is flat and square (use 220 sandpaper).  Then butt the square end up against the stop.  I marked the length with my X-acto knife while in the miter box then took it out of the miter box and rolled it while cutting on the mark with the X-acto.  If you can roll it straight this works.  But if that doesn’t work well, you can use the fine tooth razor saw instead.

Before cutting the next peg, again, square off the cut end – if you don’t then there will be a tiny point that sticks out and will affect the length of the next one.

I shaped my pegs by putting grooves near each end using first an X-Acto knife then enlarging the groove with a small file with sharp edge – I used a small triangle shaped file.  Lastly I used a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper to sand the grooves (obsessive, I know!).

That's it for now!  Next time I will describe how to make the base table piece (with the holes for the pegs) and paint and assemble.
Thanks to all my readers for putting up with my long break!

painting and decorating - next blog