Sometimes the old ways are best. That’s Ed Gendall’s philosophy when it comes to toys.
He makes them for his grandchildren rather than buying them, which is something the retired North Battleford, Sask., farmer and flying instructor thinks more farmers should do in these cash-short days.
“I remembered my dad when I was a kid. He would go off the farm to get income. He’d bring home lumber, 2 by 4s, and cut it into blocks. Just simple things.”
Gendall makes his toys from recycled material. His six-year-old grandson Jess plays in a recycled tractor cab. He also has a child-sized Quonset hut made from a piece of metal
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culvert.
“He’ll sure never wreck it,” Gendall said.
“It didn’t cost me a penny.”
His granddaughter’s favorite toy is a stick horse he made. Gendall said he likes home-made items because “a part of you goes with everything you make.”
Another farmer who spends time in his workshop is Dwight Sabiston, of Kelliher, Sask. He has made several wooden grain truck toys for relatives and friends. His latest, an old-style Kenworth semi-truck, is one grandson’s favorite.
“The plastic toys lay there and he won’t let any other kids play with it.”
Sentimental keepsake
Sabiston said the truck has personality, but it is also good quality and can be an heirloom passed down to other generations.
He said children appreciate home-made items more than they do the toys their parents buy in a store. He said he realized that when he made some crude-looking beds for his children. When he could afford to buy new ones from the store, the kids were “heartbroken” about giving up what their dad had made.
Wood is his preferred material because there’s “something about it – a feel in your hands.”
Sabiston jokes that he wishes he didn’t have to make a living. Then “I could just build things and take ages, hours and hours.”
