Quality Woodcrafts in Johnston County creates custom handmade wooden toys for different generations
JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- It's a pretty easy commute into work.
Just steps away from his home, that's where you'll find Keith Hartman sawing and creating custom, handmade, wooden toys.
"I've been doing it about 30 years now. My father drug me out here as a kid, bribed me with wood toys to learn to run the equipment and as I got older it kind of consumed my world," Hartman said.
From trains to firetrucks, to dinosaurs and animals, and customized name stools.
"I basically draw the name out with a sharpie magic marker, paste the pattern onto the wood, sit down here to the scroll saw, cut the name out like this. Then I'll go over to the band saw and cut the letters apart and clean the letters up. So I can put a backboard on here. Sand it down, stain it, paint it and you end up with a customized child's name stool."
Some of the pieces come with a bit of nostalgia for parents.
"Some of the ideas come from people who go to the craft shows and explain when they were a kid their grandfather made them this toy. So I come home and play with the idea until I find something that works," Hartman said.
Each piece, a source of pride for him and a great addition to a child's toy box.
"When they come in and their eyes light up and they start running around, getting noisy and playing with everything it just warms my heart to see the excitement and the entertainment that what I do gives to the kids," he said.
