Papa Bill’s Wooden Toys

CARTHAGE, Miss. ( WJTV ) – As kids, most of us played with toys. But did you ever think about what goes into making them?

Bill Bannister, of Carthage, has been making wooden toys for 20 years. He's the man behind Papa Bill's Wooden Toys, and he sells them to people who ask and at local markets.

Bannister started with furniture and then decided he wanted to make something else.

"I was always interested in how somebody could take two pieces of wood and put them together and make the scene disappear. And my wife called me in one afternoon and said, 'You come watch this. This is Norm Abram of New Yankee Workshop.' I watched every episode for six months and ordered some plans for them and made my first furniture," he said. "Then my grandson came along, and he saw my an airplane and a magazine. He got all excited. He wanted one, so I took it out my shop and about a week later, I came up with the airplane, and I got to thinking, I don't need a big shop, so I started making toys."

Camp Kamassa

Every toy Bannister makes is a testament to his attention to detail and skill. It's a skill that he taught himself over the years, but not every piece comes out perfect.

"It gets aggravating when you've got an expensive piece of wood, and you make the wrong cut. And that piece is now junk, and you can't use it anymore," he said.

But Bannister said his favorite part about making toys is seeing the reactions from children.

"It's lot of fun, you see, especially making it. But when you go to a show that was in Clinton last week, we had a guy, a little boy came up, he was in a wheelchair, and he had a tube in his throat, and he was physically he wasn't real good, but he saw my pickup trucks, and he fell in love with them. And we gave him the cattle truck," he said.

If you want to reach out to Bannister about the toys, his number is 601-624-6620.

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