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[yorkdude]

Just kidding, but grabbed a few of this companies toys when our kids were born. The craftsmanship is incredible, they work, we have kept them pristine and thought you might get a kick out of the “safe age” for kids. Make no mistake, these are fire to start and steam to run. Safe huh! Here’s a pic of 1 of them, also have the sawmill, steam roller and a few others. My finger highlights the age thing.

[Kristin Meredith]

Those look great! Toys were maybe more fun when they were a bit more dangerous :pig:We had one of those creepy crawler sets where you mixed up the goo and then "cooked them" in molds that got really hot. You could give yourself a good burn!

But then we also played Mary Poppins by taking umbrellas and jumping off the roof of our one story home and making "skate boards" with old key skates and trash can lids, so we perhaps weren't the brightest bulbs in the package.

[Canadian John]

 I had a similar steam engine as a child..It was fun and I learned a lot.  In retrospect, playing w/ fire and steam could have disastrous results.

[yorkdude]

Those look great! Toys were maybe more fun when they were a bit more dangerous :pig:We had one of those creepy crawler sets where you mixed up the goo and then "cooked them" in molds that got really hot. You could give yourself a good burn!

But then we also played Mary Poppins by taking umbrellas and jumping off the roof of our one story home and making "skate boards" with old key skates and trash can lids, so we perhaps weren't the brightest bulbs in the package.

Easy bake ovens, etc. You had more courage than I did, I never jumped off a roof with an umbrella, 55 years ago I wish I had thought of it. Nowadays I use umbrellas to cover my bald head. I wish I had our lawn darts, how dangerous is that? Anyway I did find my fiddlesticks, my parents gave them to me. Gonna see if our daughter will let me play a game with our Granddaughter, thinking it’s gonna be a NO.

[pz]

That's really cool. My mother was German and we had German made toys when we were youngsters. She never did get us the steam engines, but she did purchase the Stabilbaukasten, which is essentially an erector set (metal) which came in a box with hundreds of parts including beams, gears, electric engines, and many other things that would stimulate the creativity of a kid. I still think of those kits because they were much more elaborate compared to the erector sets available here.

I saw the steam engines operating when I was a kid and wanted one, but never did manage to obtain one - might invest in one of the steam engines because they are beautifully engineered masterpieces.

[MysticRhythms]

Those look great! Toys were maybe more fun when they were a bit more dangerous :pig:We had one of those creepy crawler sets where you mixed up the goo and then "cooked them" in molds that got really hot. You could give yourself a good burn!

But then we also played Mary Poppins by taking umbrellas and jumping off the roof of our one story home and making "skate boards" with old key skates and trash can lids, so we perhaps weren't the brightest bulbs in the package.

Easy bake ovens, etc. You had more courage than I did, I never jumped off a roof with an umbrella, 55 years ago I wish I had thought of it. Nowadays I use umbrellas to cover my bald head. I wish I had our lawn darts, how dangerous is that? Anyway I did find my fiddlesticks, my parents gave them to me. Gonna see if our daughter will let me play a game with our Granddaughter, thinking it’s gonna be a NO.

The old lawn darts were great. A few years back we bought a new set to use with our son. BORING. Without the sharp point you had to land them short and bounce them in. Just not the same.
I don't see any real reason to not use the old style, of course I think they should remove all warning labels. If someone want to take a bath with their toaster then they should be allowed to.

[yorkdude]

Those look great! Toys were maybe more fun when they were a bit more dangerous :pig:We had one of those creepy crawler sets where you mixed up the goo and then "cooked them" in molds that got really hot. You could give yourself a good burn!

But then we also played Mary Poppins by taking umbrellas and jumping off the roof of our one story home and making "skate boards" with old key skates and trash can lids, so we perhaps weren't the brightest bulbs in the package.

Easy bake ovens, etc. You had more courage than I did, I never jumped off a roof with an umbrella, 55 years ago I wish I had thought of it. Nowadays I use umbrellas to cover my bald head. I wish I had our lawn darts, how dangerous is that? Anyway I did find my fiddlesticks, my parents gave them to me. Gonna see if our daughter will let me play a game with our Granddaughter, thinking it’s gonna be a NO.

The old lawn darts were great. A few years back we bought a new set to use with our son. BORING. Without the sharp point you had to land them short and bounce them in. Just not the same.
I don't see any real reason to not use the old style, of course I think they should remove all warning labels. If someone want to take a bath with their toaster then they should be allowed to.

I like the way you think, after all some people jumped off the roof with umbrellas? Never heard of such a ridiculous thing. If you jog your memory and have about 60 years of "salt in your saddle" it might make you wonder, how in the xxxx did we make it.

[yorkdude]

That's really cool. My mother was German and we had German made toys when we were youngsters. She never did get us the steam engines, but she did purchase the Stabilbaukasten, which is essentially an erector set (metal) which came in a box with hundreds of parts including beams, gears, electric engines, and many other things that would stimulate the creativity of a kid. I still think of those kits because they were much more elaborate compared to the erector sets available here.

I saw the steam engines operating when I was a kid and wanted one, but never did manage to obtain one - might invest in one of the steam engines because they are beautifully engineered masterpieces.

They truly are phenomenal, unbelievable craftsmanship and details. Perfect example of engineering. Kind of sad that now its electronic stuff if you ask me.

[BigDave83]

I still have my Jarts that is what i think they were called. My father was a Garbage man when I was little, I had new used stuff all the time, bicycles, bb guns, lawn mowers, growing up I started fixing up bikes and mower to sell for money to buy bbs for the bb gun. I remember buying the little yellow Daisy tubes with 350 bbs in it for 39 cents and sometimes they would have a special for 29 cents. As I got older it went for 22 LR ammo, I could go into the store and buy it myself at 10 years old. I doubt a 10 year old could buy bbs today.

[yorkdude]

I still have my Jarts that is what i think they were called. My father was a Garbage man when I was little, I had new used stuff all the time, bicycles, bb guns, lawn mowers, growing up I started fixing up bikes and mower to sell for money to buy bbs for the bb gun. I remember buying the little yellow Daisy tubes with 350 bbs in it for 39 cents and sometimes they would have a special for 29 cents. As I got older it went for 22 LR ammo, I could go into the store and buy it myself at 10 years old. I doubt a 10 year old could buy bbs today.

Oh man I knew it, my wife said “darts”, every now and then I remember. I also remember the B.B. tubes, did you ever spill any? I know I did. The crimped lid was really something.

[LowSlowJoe]

Years ago, ( not that many ),  I got interested in Calcium carbide , and potential for making really loud bangs 4th of July.    My wife, basically told me no... more or less threatened to divorce me if I pursued my desire to play around with this stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-Bang_Cannon

Man, it must have been fun to be a kid in the 50s...       

Separate from that, my dad always used to tell me about his cousins , who on occasion would play with dynamite...  you know, the stuff they used to have around the farm to get those stumps out and such.

I suppose a Carbide mortar is maybe a bit safer then dynamite.

[LowSlowJoe]

Now, I grew up in the 60s and 70s... and I do remember making tennis ball canons from tin cans... using lighter fluid as the propulsion power source... so , I did have a little fun too as a kid.

[yorkdude]

Now, I grew up in the 60s and 70s... and I do remember making tennis ball canons from tin cans... using lighter fluid as the propulsion power source... so , I did have a little fun too as a kid.

I also grew up then, kind of funny looking back, there were many things we did that were sketchy.
We used to tape big ball bearings onto shotgun shells and throw them up in the air. That was kind of the limit to our explosion forays, although we were able to get legitimate M-80's and such up in China town in San Francisco, those packed a punch. We used to also launch them with wrist rockets, a buddy of ours held onto it a little too long and it cost him 3 fingers and the hearing in his right ear.

[LowSlowJoe]

I never got like official M-80s, very hard to get those in Michgan.  ( no fireworks were allowed to consumers back then in Michigan )   I did once come to know a guy later in life, who was sort of a amateur pyrotechnic maker...  he gave me some things that were pretty wild...   In more recent years, I bumped into him again on the internet , I was more interested in getting into it myself, he basically told me ... Don't do it. ( not sure if he had encountered something that changed his attitude, or if he was just making sure he didn't voice anything of such nature over the internet )

[BigDave83]

M80s and slingshots I remember those days. an m80 would clear a nice 8ish round patch of grass, 1/4 sticks did about a 3 foot area.

Potato guns were one of the things we made, started off using hairspray or starting fluid, then just plumbed the little propane canisters to them. Made different sizes, because some taters were to small.