Re: Ash for toy blocks?

I use poplar when I made blocks for my son. Poplar holds paint very well and it's probably the least expensive aside from pine.

Tim

------ see my page @

They were finished with beeswax+mineral oil. Most of them are still in pretty good shape.

I made them in 1961

I still get to play with them sometimes, mostly with Grandchildren.

New ones (more kids need them than in 1961) are Cherry, with same finish. Not as hard / dent-resistant, but they're pretty. Fortunately, Cherry grows on our place. Easy to carve, too. Each new kid has one Cherry block with their name one side, and their birth date on the opposite side.

You won't be sorry that you put some effort into making blocks for kids.

Exactly why I'm making them... :)

I've been using a hard maple for toy train cars and it mills really nice. Guess it would't hurt to try some soft maple.

We make block sets of hard maple and sell them unfinished. Customers who have had them nearly twenty years says they are still like new. The set I made for my grandson is seventeen years old and never dented or splintered. harrym