Over the last week of winter break, I was bored out of my mind and decided it was time to pick up the saw again. Thus began the two-week saga of building this toy crane at a furious pace. I had had this project in mind for some time, but didn’t get the motivation to start it until I heard the clock ticking towards spring semester. I used no kits and did all the drafting myself rather than downloading plans. Instead, I studied my old Tonka trucks and a wooden tractor-trailer my dad built me in 2007. The crank really works, and the magnet can pick up nails or other small things just like real cranes.
This entire crane is made of pine, which is one of the easiest woods to work with except if you need it to be round. Pine is too soft to turn on a lathe, so I had to make six identical wheels with only a scroll saw and belt sander. I had to use every tool in my dad’s shop to build it, and try a lot of techniques that were completely new to me, like sanding to a specific angle. There were so many overhanging pieces at weird angles with no support, and sometimes it was impossible to fit a clamp where I needed it, which led to a few irritating gaps.
The construction, however, was nothing compared to the beast that was painting this contraption. I accidentally bought metal paint, which takes vastly longer to dry and is absolutely impossible to clean out of a paintbrush. On top of that, it is stickier than Superglue and attempting to wash it off my hands made it look like I had murdered Chester Cheetah. The endless nooks and crannies around fenders and smokestacks made taping a nightmare, and two days of inhaling poisonous fumes didn’t help the fun any.
Ultimately, though, I was very happy with how this crane turned out. The paint could be a little cleaner and there are a few spots that I could have sanded better, but those remain as lessons for next time. I’d love to build more trucks like this—all boys, whether they are 3 or 103, think construction vehicles are cool. Here is a short clip of the crane in action. Whether I keep this one or give it to my 4-year-old cousin, I’m really proud of it and had a wonderful time in the shop doing something productive with my hands.
Seeing you creations in both this and the last post was great. Woodworking isn’t really that common of a hobby, and it is very cool to see someone with such a rare and exciting passion. My grandmother loves wood working/ sculpting and has been making little figurines out of wood and clay for as long as I remember, and it is cool to see another persons creations because the difference in style. I really enjoyed reading about the chess pieces/salt and pepper shakers you made, as I thought that was a cool little project, and I’m very interested to read your future blogs to see more of your work.
This is so cool! I love to see the process of creating something, and I like how you share the techniques you used that were new to you. I also enjoyed the bit of humor you added with the Chester Cheetah comment. Overall I can’t wait to see more of this blog.
This is so cool. I would never be able to create something like this and am extremely impressed at how you were able to create a crane out of just pieces of wood. It looks so amazing and is honestly surprising that it’s homemade. I also love the humor you sprinkled throughout this post. The little details you included about your struggles with the paint really made this blog post interesting instead of just a boring account of how you made this crane. I found this post very interesting and can’t wait to see more!