How to Make Wooden MineCraft Toys

This will be a tutorial on how to make your very own wooden Minecraft toys, including Steve, the horse, Enderman, and a creeper. Throw in a few wooden blocks and it’s great toy set.

As a stay-at-home mother of six, I’m always being called upon to make some fun and creative toys for this crew. The fun part is including the kids in the process. So when Daniel asked for a wooden Steve, we dove head first into this project. This is my first instructable. I will try to be thorough and concise, but being as busy as I am there are days when I forget what direction I am going, so bear with me.

These can be cut with a CNC mill or on a scroll saw, if you don't have access to a CNC mill. I cut these out on a simple Shapeoko 2 (with an upgraded spindle) using Cut2D, in conjunction with a scroll saw and drill press to finalize.

1/2” board (thickness is important here) I used a pine board (Common size listed: 6-in x 3-ft; Actual: 0.5-in x 5.5-in x 3-ft)

3/4” board (again thickness is what’s important here) I used a pine board (Common size listed: 8-in x 4-ft; Actual: 0.75-in x 9.5-in x 4-ft)

(1) 3/16 wooden dowel

Tools:

CNC Mill (or Scroll saw if you don’t have access)

Scroll saw (useful but not necessary)

Drill press (for drilling all the holes for the joints)

Small handsaw or exacto blade

Sandpaper

You will also need these templates. I have included both a pdf version for printing and an illustrator version for loading into your CNC software such as Cut2D.

I have a limited 12” work area with my Shapeoko2 so I cut my boards into 12” lengths.

The are no true 1 inch boards available so we will glue and clamp two of the boards together. You can cut the boards into 1 inch strips and glue those if you wish. This will be cut into Steve and Enderman heads. I will do the same with two .75 inch boards to get the 1.5inch cube for our Creeper head.

I use Cut2D for my CNC milling. My resources are a little limited as of right now so I used a .125” ball nose for this project. I highly recommend using an endmill instead. It will save you in the clean up phase.

You’ll want to set up your material according to what you have on hand, keeping in mind that 1/2” board is a must with Steve, Creeper, and Enderman.

Import our graphics.

VERY IMPORTANT! When setting up your toolpaths for both the pocketing and profiling use specs comfortable for your machine. Don’t forget tabs. *Also I completely neglected to pocket Steve’s leg joints. Don’t worry, I cut them out on a scroll saw later on, no problem.

Save the code to whatever Gcode software you use. I use Universal Gcode Sender.

Let the machine do the work and then let's get to cleaning them up.

Remember you can always cut these on a scroll saw if you don't have a CNC mill.

Time to clean up those tabs and edges. I like to use an exacto knife and some sandpaper to clean them up at this point.

Time to run Steve’s legs through the scroll saw to correct for my absent mindedness from earlier.

While we’re here we might as well cut that arch on the body. His legs won’t be able to move without it. My son does this with sandpaper, instead.

If we don’t get the holes in just the right spot things will end up being wonky or in the case of the legs, not fit at all, so take your time and lay them next to one another and mark them if you must. You’ll thank yourself later. Also very important that you use the right drill bit for the dowel. You do not want to try to squeeze a dowel into soft pine with delicate areas like that middle connecting the legs. You will snap it, but if you get the right size it will hold out ...going on three months now with my children, and they’re a rough crew.

Drill down about a cm for each of the holes.

Finding the center for the heads is easy with an X. Use a pencil and a straight edge and mark from corner to corner.

Almost there! For each character you will need (3) roughly sized at 1.75 cm dowel pieces, along with (2) 2.5 cm dowels for the leg joints for both Steve and the Enderman.

Slip them together, it’s that easy. This is usually when the younger kids suddenly want to help.

I used a 3mm birch and cut out a bridle and saddle as well. I forgot to photograph it.

My youngest daughter likes to call these MyCraft toys and she enjoys painting them. While, my middle son, likes to print out skins and glue them to the wood. Personally I like them plain, but I don’t play the game so what do I know.