Past-to-Present Doll Cradle

When Woodworker’s Journal editor Joanna Werch Takes came to me with her idea for this article, I knew we were going to have fun with this weekend project. It all began when she emailed me several photos of a doll cradle her grandfather made for her when she was little. (Being a gentleman, I didn’t ask how long ago that was.) In the back-and-forth correspondence that ensued, we kicked around several ideas to update the design but still mirror the overall lines and appearance of the original.

Joanna’s original cradle was rather large (she recalls she often kept more than one doll in it at a time), so we scaled it down a bit. She recommended we use solid wood rather than the original plywood and, while the original had a thin drop-in bottom supported by wooden strips, I suggested a joined bottom that adds considerable strength and stability to the construction. In the end, this project became a true long-distance team effort.

Getting Started

You can build this cradle out of any material you have on hand, but Joanna and I settled on two things: it would be red oak, and we’d only use thicknesses we could find at the local big box store. That