Making Toys, Revised Edition

Even as a farm boy, Sam Martin had an interest in making toys. Although the early ones were crudely made and nailed together, Sam never lost the desire to build better toys. It was in the early 1980s that he and his son invested in shop tools. Sam built some furniture but soon devoted his time to making reproductions of trucks, cars, steam shovels and backhoes. To date Sam, a retired biochemist, has scaled down some 50 different vehicles and excavators. In over a decade and a half he has crafted nearly 3,000 toys. Sam and his wife Georgia live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Roger Schroeder's success as a writer began when he gave up trying to write the great American novel. Instead, he turned to writing about his hobby: woodworking. Sharpening his skills and his photography and expanding his interests, he went on to author 16 books and nearly 200 magazine articles. Ranging in scope from woodcarving to house building, the books include such titles as How to Carve Wildfowl, Carving Signs, Making Toys, and Timber Frame Construction, which has over 77,000 copies in print. Founding editor of Wood Carving Illustrated, Roger is past president of the Long Island Woodcarvers Association and active in the Long Island Wood Workers club. He is a retired English teacher who specialized in teaching writing and research, Roger currently lectures on topics such as how to make wood into furniture, houses and sculpture. In the remaining time, he is an amateur cabinetmaker who enjoys constructing Victorian reproductions, and is an amateur carver who has won a number of blue ribbons for his natural wood sculptures.