Which wood for toys?

[Dr. Bob]

Hi there,

With an (almost) 4 year old running around in the house I thought it would be a nice hobby to make some toys. I started with wood laying around, I think you call it deal (very soft, used for cheap closets etc?)
Since it is used for toy it can show some wear and tear, but it's so soft it will show every plane or carcrash on the wood. What is the best (not too expensive and commonly available) wood which does not show every bump in the wood, and does not splinter easily (to make finishing easier and avoid crying children).

I live in the Netherlands, and in the regular DIY shops I can't find a lot of planed wood in different species. Does anybody have any leads?

Thanks from this starting toymaker.

Bob

[hammer7869]

I use pine for the cars, maple and poplar for puzzles, walnut and cherry for misc other toys

[pmac53]

I would go for poplar or maple. Poplar is probably the cheaper of the two. Maple would be a little harder. Both cut fairly good.

[Jim Finn]

I use poplar and fir

[Breinda]

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Actually my husband planned to make some toys for our 5 year old boy too. But so far he had a hard time because the chosen wood was simply to hard. I think it was beechwood or so.I think I will try to get some maple. Hopefully the post-production will be easier that it was with the beechwood.

[ThinBoards.com]

Poplar would work well.
Maple also, as long as it's soft maple, like Red, Silver, or Boxelder. Not Sugar Maple.

[sawdustus]

For painted toys and puzzles I like poplar. For other types I like walnut, maple and cherry. I stay away from oak because it has a tendency to produce splinters and any of the softwoods such as pine because they tend to dent and break to easily.

george