Wood Toy Making - buying parts?

[Stew Hagerty]

Hobby Lobby is where I've always found what I needed.

[Dan Cameron]

I think you will find that flat wheels made with a hole saw will reduce the quality look of your toys. There are wheel making bits you can buy for use on a drill press, but believe me when I tell you they don't work that well and you will have to cut 3-4 times as many as you actually complete to get the same look you can buy for a few pennies each.


I'm currently making 36 toy tractors for my niece's wedding next year and I looked high and low for bar tread tractor type tires close to the size I needed. I couldn't find any that looked good, so I came up with a jig to make what I wanted. I have 18 pairs made so far and have more than 4 hours in them. For front wheels and axles, I plan to purchase them.
Attachment 316468

I used to belong to a club that made hundreds of toys for charity each year. Often I made hundreds of wheels for a special size or special look, like the big wheels on the tractor shown in the picture. I used a home made "router lathe". One afternoon I made 300 of these tractor wheels.

[Lee Schierer]

Being a farmer myself that is a nice looking tractor. Care to elaborate on how you made the back tires or is it a trade secret? Thanks Jared

Here you go.
Tractor wheel jig

[Chuck Nickerson]

I used to belong to a club that made hundreds of toys for charity each year. Often I made hundreds of wheels for a special size or special look, like the big wheels on the tractor shown in the picture. I used a home made "router lathe". One afternoon I made 300 of these tractor wheels.

All right! 'Wheels Cameron' knows what he's talking about. We really miss his wheel-making ability. Actually we miss having him around for several reasons.

[Brian Sommers]

any images of what these tractor wheels looked like?