How to Make a Wooden Baby Rattle
Wooden baby rattles are a classic toy that provide babies with limitless hours of play. Most wooden baby rattles contain captive rings. Captive rings are round pieces of wood that are cut loose from the main piece and then smoothed out. Good woods to use when making a wooden baby rattle include cherry and oak.
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Things You'll Need
- Wooden block, 3 inches by 3 inches by 6 inches
- Wood spindle
- 1 1/4-inch roughing gouge
- Calipers
- Spindle gouge
- Parting tool
- Dental pick
- Painter's tape
- 100-grit sandpaper
Instructions
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1
Place the wooden block on the wooden spindle and secure it into position using the spindle's clamps.
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2
Rotate the wood and carve it into a circular piece with a rough gouge. Measure the wood with calipers to confirm that it is rounded to 1 5/8 inches.
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3
Carve out a round headstock and bead tail stock using a spindle gouge. Leave a section in the top right of the rattle for the captive rings.
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4
Carve two captive rings out of the ring stock wood using a parting tool.
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5
Round off all the carved pieces using a spindle gouge.
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6
Set the rings loose from the rattle with a dental pick.
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7
Tape the rings to the top and bottom of the rattle and clean up the under wood with the spindle gouge.
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8
Sand the entire rattle smooth with 100 grit sandpaper.
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References
- Photo Credit the kid and a toy image by Hunta from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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biggerilla
Jul 11, 2010
The article fails to mention that this rattle is turned on a wood lathe and certainly is not a beginner project. Photos would help a lot. I've been making similar rattles for 4 years and can attest to the delicate nature of the project. I would also ad that the sanding should go well beyond 100 grit and perhaps beyond 400 grit. I would also steer clear of oak and choose a harder wood such as hard Maple for its more pure chemical makeup and less tendency to splinter or break.
