By General Craft Contributor Michelle
Make a fun, old-fashioned toy with this simple tutorial!
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:
- Darice Wood Craftwood Toy Wheel 2 in. 2 pc.
- Loew Cornell Simpy Art Wood Dowel 12 x 1/4 in. 10 pc.
- Eclectic E6000 Adhesive
- Hammer
- Acrylic paint, or markers
- Wire cutters, pruning shears, utlilty knife (something to score, and cut the dowel)
- Pencil sharpener, pocket knife, utility knife (something to sharpen the end of the dowel to a point)
To begin, sharpen the end of your dowel into a point. I used a wall-mounted pencil sharpener, and it worked great. You could also whittle the end to a point with a pocket knife, or utility knife.
Push the dowel through the center of the wheel, so the flat side of the wheel is on the bottom of the top by the pointed end.
Place the top into the hole of another wheel (I found a stack of 2 wheels worked the best), and gently pound the opposite end of the dowel to drive the dowel through the first wheel.
(If your dowel is at all loose, as holes/dowels could be slightly irregular, simply add a dab of E6000 adhesive inside the hole before you insert your dowel. Let dry.)
The pointed end needs to stick out of the bottom of the wheel you’re using for your top about 3/4-inch.
Now use your wire cutters/pruning shears to cut the top of the dowel down so the the handle of the top is about 1.5-inches long. I gently scored all of the way around my dowel, rotating as I gently bit into the wood, so It broke off evenly, rather than crushing the wood, and splintering.
Now you have a fun wooden top that spins beautifully!
Now use your paints, or markers to decorate your top.
See how long you can make it spin, or make more than one top and have them battle each other to see who can spin the longest, or knock the other top out of place.
Happy crafting!
