Baby Blocks

[karossii]

I'm about to make a pattern of some baby blocks... you know, the piled up ABC wooden blocks... but I thought I would come here and see if anyone knows of an existing pattern, before I go and try to reinvent the wheel...

Something along these lines, is what I am thinking of. Anyone know of a similar pattern already out there?

or

[Roy Fleshman]

K, I don't even you. I made a set of those about three months ago for the grandson. It was spurred on by receiving a large number of 2.5X2.5 x 18 inch oak shorts in perfect condition, surfaced all four side. Who knew there were so many steps to doing something like this. At the time I did not have a carve-wright and did it the old fashioned way. Chamfered the edges with a router. Cut to size chamfer the remaining edges, then reverse print what I wanted for each box, different letters, different colors and s few icons or easy to understand graphics. These are all iron on transfers. I made a box for the whole mess and then shipped 34 lbs of wood on their way. If it ever gets cold they can heat the house for an hour. I have already thought out how to do this on the CW, still will take a lot of work. But it is worth it. Evidently, it is a go to toy everyday for the grandson. I am looking at custom made Lincoln logs next and I think the CW will be of great assistance. I also included some pics of another popular wood toy that should be easy to make on the cartwright also.
Good luck.

[ronboley]

This is one of those things on my "to do" list. My thinking is to make a sled that just fits some logical number of blocks and carve a whole batch at once. If the .mpc is laid out correctly we should be able to carve all six sides in six carving sessions...that is a different letter on each of the six sides of the block with the blocks re-arranged...or just use six .mpc's with the carving letters re-arranged....let's see...if the blocks are 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 (using "3x" material) then 4 rows across is 10" and 8 rows long is 20" long giving 32 blocks per sled....26 letters of the alphabet plus extra a, i, e, o, s and maybe a picture....the letters in a square carve region should be easy in designer....so that would be my plan...maybe we can share mpc's as we go along..?

Just love Roy's box for the blocks...very simple and a great idea with the handles...maybe carve the four box sides with cartoon characters and/or kid's names...

[ronboley]

Here's an .mpc with 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" blocks. Note the blocks are individual pieces already cut so if you use a solid board for the first carve or two and cut afterwards you'll need to account for the cut blade width loss in those first two carves...My idea is to use a sled to hold the individual blocks together for each carve, moving the blocks around so as to have different letters on each face...quite a puzzle...The .mpc is probably not perfect, but it's a start...I used Times New Roman Font and a 1/4" carve area...might want to go down to a 1/8" carve area depth (?)

One more thought...could do both letters AND numbers (26 letters and 10 numbers = 36) with a four across (10") and nine long (22-1/2") arrangement...

[ronboley]

So here's the improved version...letters AND numbers...2-1/2" blocks, 4 blocks wide, 9 blocks long, 10" x 22-1/2" virtual board. Also two mpc's for an 11-1/2" x 11-1/2" x 13" tall storage box. Use 3/4" thick boards and dove tail the sides. Need 3x6x4'-0" board for one run of 36 blocks. Need 1x8x8'-0" board to fabricate sides for one box and a 11" square piece of 1/4" -3/8" plywood for the bottom (set in grooves in the side pieces).

No hurry...no schedule on this one.

FYI you can get a set of 1-3/4" (wood and cotton?) screen printed kid's blocks for $16 at Target or 27 piece set of 2-1/2" maple blocks screen printed for $144 or a 78 piece maple screen printed set for $417 at "oldfashonedblocks.com"...or $37 at Amazon for a 28 block 1-3/4" basswood set from Uncle Goose...there's a lot of stamped and screened stuff out there, but no (real) carved pieces that I could find...so it's way cheaper to buy, but no way to get the quality and personalization that we CW nuts can achieve...

[karossii]

Wow, okay that is awesome, and I will have to make some now!

However, I meant a pattern; like this (I already went ahead and made a couple)...

[karossii]

I will have to make a few blocks with specific 4-6 letter words on them now, along with a carved picture or two on the extra faces. And several number blocks with some basic math signs (+, -, =, x, /) too. Now I will be making a large set of custom carved wooden blocks, lol.

Oh well, it seems it can't be helped! I have a carvewright, I like to make stuff, and I have a baby.

[Roy Fleshman]

Sweet job, K! Love what you did. I downloaded it all. The grandson has hi, but his sister will be arriving in about a month. I have two years I figure before I give this a try. I have a feeling this will be not be a labor intensive as mine. I had all kinds of ideas too, but I am a woodworker, not a iron person with letters. Great personalization on the box. One thing I did not take into account was the weight of so many blocks and the shipping costs from here to Tennessee. It was not cheap. I am interested in how dovetails works with the CW, I have only done them by hand, (tedious), router, (complicated), or bandsaw, (inaccurate) Thanks for running with the question and idea. My understanding is these are really developing my grandson's throwing arm at the age of three. My son is already planning on pitcher in little league. So there is an added plus in addition to learning letters, simple math etc. Once again, a hat tip to you.

[James RS]

I had found a font one time I used for a friends gift, I believe it was on free fonts

I'm about to make a pattern of some baby blocks... you know, the piled up ABC wooden blocks... but I thought I would come here and see if anyone knows of an existing pattern, before I go and try to reinvent the wheel...

Something along these lines, is what I am thinking of. Anyone know of a similar pattern already out there?

or

[rcdages]

Very nice job on the blocks.