Retired but not tired of toys
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
GENTRY ó Do you remember when toys were made of wood and lasted for generations ? Well, a love for wood working has brought back wooden toys and provided a new full-time occupation for a retired Gentry power plant worker.
After 25 years of working for Southwestern Electric Power Company at its Flint Creek Power Plant, Garry Miller of rural Gentry now occupies his time in his workshop making wooden rocking horses and toys. He calls his business Rocking-On Woodcrafts.
ì Iíve always had a hankering to mess with wood, î Miller said. Heís enjoyed wood working ever since taking a junior-high-school class in the craft at Wiggins, Colo., where he lived as a child.
Miller started making toys for his grandchildren 6 years ago, and made his hobby a full-time occupation when he retired 3 years ago. Thereís not a wooden toy he makes that his grandchildren donít have, he said.
He makes rocking horses and a variety of other toys ó everything from wooden pull toys like grasshoppers and dogs to whirlybirds and rubberband guns. And his rocking horses arenít all horses. He makes rocking bears, motorcycles, goats, donkeys, tractors and even Arkansas Razorback hogs. He makes an infant rocker which allows the youngster to rock but not fall out of the rocker. While toys are his mainstay, he also makes furniture and takes on special projects people bring him.
ì Sometimes I get the urge to try something different, î Miller said. He was building a bench with a number of cattle brands carved into it on Thursday.
He begins his projects with roughcut timber ó whether that be pine, cedar, walnut or oak. Sometimes he travels to Colorado and other places to pick up logs. He cuts the lumber to the needed size, planes, joins and builds the toys, then sands and finishes with paint or polyurethane.
The products of his labors are not only works of art, but toys that will last and not quickly break like many of the plastic toys on the market today.
He began by making rocking horses ó ìmainly, î he said ó and using the left over wood scraps to build other toys. He also takes specialty orders and is currently working on a project with downthe-road neighbor and artisan Curtis McChristian. Mc-Christian is doing the wood carving, and Miller is building the furniture piece. Once a year, Miller also spends three to four hours on a Saturday teaching woodworking skills to members of the Bloomfield 4-H Club. In the past, heís helped them build bird houses, squirrel feeders and wooden notebooks. ì The kids do the work, î Miller said, ìand I supervise. î About six to 12 club members participate
each year, he said, and hopefully learn skills
that will stay with
them for
a lifetime. While Miller gets most
of his customers mouth, he has been attending and showing his work at area craft fairs for about a year.
For more infor-
on or wood crafts, he may be reached at 736-2740.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online