(2) Round dowel rods in beech or birch 3/16 inch to 7/8 inch diameter and 36 inches long are useful for axles and for the perches for the swinging animals, etc. These dowel rods cost 3s. to 10s. per 100. Dowels are made by planing up a strip square in section, then planing off the corners, and finally the resulting eight corners. They are now nearly round, and can be made quite so by hammering them through a hole in a piece of hard wood or metal.
(3) Sawn laths such as builders use are perhaps the cheapest material that it is possible to get. These can be got from builders' and timber-merchants' yards at a cost of about 9d. to 1s. per bundle of 100. Each lath is 3' 6" × 1" × 3/16".
(4) "Three-ply" is composed of three thin layers of wood glued together under pressure. The grain of the centre layer is laid at right angles to that of the other two, so as to give additional strength and to avoid warping. "Three-ply" will not split easily and should be used for the jointed animals and swinging animals described in Chapter XX.
Ply-wood is usually sold in thicknesses varying from 1/8 inch to ¼ inch. Price of three-ply boards in large squares for cutting up:
1/8 in. thick, 47" × 38", 3/4d. per sq. foot.
3/16 " 53" × 34", 1d. " "
¼ " 72" × 48", 1-3/4d. " "
Match Stales. These are sometimes useful in toy-making, though ordinary matches that have been used generally serve as well. Match stales may be obtained from Messrs Bryant & May's, Fairfield Works, Bow, E., at 1s. per bundle (about 1500 to the bundle). These are supplied without brimstone, 4-5/8 inches long, and thicker than the matches in common use.
Most of the wood so far described is prepared wood (with the exception of builders' laths), and is ready for use at once; it has merely to be sawn to the right length or the right size. But it is well to get the children away as soon as possible from dependence upon this "prepared material" and to encourage them to use "waste material."
If there is a kitchen or tuck shop in connexion with the school this will supply the children with useful wooden and cardboard boxes of various sizes. The wooden boxes in which Fry's, Cadbury's, etc., chocolates are packed are most useful in toy-making. The wood is easy to saw and fairly free from knots.
If no school kitchen or tuck shop exists a grocer, for a few pence, will supply a delightful collection of wooden boxes, sweet-boxes, soap-boxes, boxes that have contained bovril, etc. The greater part of every wooden toy in this book has been made from materials such as these.
To avoid expense one should begin at once to collect useful boxes; this adds to the enjoyment of toy-making. A tobacconist will often give away his cigar-boxes, the wood of which is a pretty brown colour and very useful. Unfortunately, it is sometimes so thin that it is very liable to split. It is difficult, too, to get the paper off some boxes, and the children who resort to washing, scrubbing, and sometimes boiling (!) the wood do not improve it. However, all waste wood has to be prepared in some way; generally the file and sand-paper will make it ready for use.