What wood for kids building blocks?

[Mark Patoka]

Just about any wood should work for blocks but close grain woods seem to be preferred.

Here is a block wagon, based on the New Yankee Workshop, that I made for my niece a couple years ago. The blocks are scrap maple with cherry letters scrollsawn and glued on. I used Salad Bowl finish just to reassure the family that it was food-safe even though most any finish is food safe once cured.

I also made about 150 blocks out of 2x4 scrap for my wife's classroom that were all spray painted (what a pain). They seemed to hold up very well also.

[Perry Schmidt]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think beech is our winner. The pic was on the money, and I think the 'hardness' is about right too.

Thanks!

As an aside, I found 'kid colored stains' at Rockler which I plan to use to stain them. Some folks mentioned size. I pulled the size from my Parents old block set. It's the best sized blocks I've seen (having played w/ them as a kid...and maybe some recently too. Strickly to help my kids ) I've never been able to find blocks this size anywhere. Barclay block are the closest in size, but not colored (which I like) and they are pricey!

The size of the 'basic block' was 3 1/2" by 1 3/4" by 7/8" thick. Then the had some half and double that size - 1 3/4"x 1 3/4"x7/8" and 7" long. Then various cuts which are all ratios of the basic block - rounds, wedges, 1/2 the width, etc.

But nice sized block. So looks like I got my work cut out for be before Xmas.

thanks for the wood suggestions. I believe Beech is the winner, although Ash and maple may be my final product.

Perry

[Ken Salisbury]

The kind you get from trees