A disc of wooden cow

The Horniman museum in London has this German wood-turned disc from which individual toy cows may be sliced in its Handling Collection. For some reason, I never imagined that this is where wooden animals came from, but it's an awfully clever way to make them.

toy animal (via Neatorama)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • glam • happy mutants • makers • toys • uk

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Gilbert Wham

The Horniman is a splendid place, i love it.
http://jonathan-peterson.com/ Jonathan Peterson

it goes without saying that someone needs to replicate this in cheese
- http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Agenbroad/100002463876063 James Agenbroad
  
  I was actually thinking exactly the same thing…
  - Boundegar
    
    Actually I think this is what the Germans call a “bundt cow.”
Kenmrph

Oh I get it… it’s a tauroid.
- Preston Sturges
  
  Klein cow
  
  http://florence.cowparade.com/cow/detail/3269
fnc

I guess this means you could buy toy cow by the radian?

Which would make “cow pi” mean something different than what it sounds like.
- Mark Dow
  
  Or get the whole thing. Cow tau.
  - DreamboatSkanky
    
    Or get the hole thing.
  - welcomeabored
    
    Circle as metaphor. How tao, brown cow.
SamSam

What’s pretty brilliant is that there is pretty much no way that you would get what this is without the piece cut out. You’d think it was some weird ring belonging to a piece of furniture, maybe to go on the end of a curtain rod or something.

Might be an interesting way to hide secret messages in plain sight in some Victorian novel.
- Kenmrph
  
  yes! I’m imagining a long, oddly gnarled piece of wood that reveals successive words in a message when cut at regular intervals. Cory, for your next novel!
  - Daneel
    
    You know the only word you’ll find is Blackpool.
  - L_Mariachi
    
    I can’t find it now, but I’ve seen animation produced by rolling various colors of Play-Doh into a log such that each cross-section is a picture… Ah, here it is. Apparently the technique is called “strata-cut.” http://youtu.be/OBcEluA3Gig
- noah django
  
  your post triggers a thought. I read a book–long forgotten what it was, some kinda historical fiction but with a time-traveller–set during the time of the Spanish conquistadors. the native people were using cords knotted in different configurations to send messages. the Spaniards could not see them as anything other than decorative crafts.
  
  dunno if that was a real thing back then, but I always though it was neat. as is this cow thing and your idea of coding messages this way.
  
  also, using a lathe is fun. thanks Mr. Mills, my awesome 7th grade shop teacher!
  - Jerril
    
    The… Inca I think? used knotted cords as accounting tools, different knots for different values, to track how much you were owed for something.
    
    Right! Quipu ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu )
- DrDave
  
  Your proposal for secret messages reminded me of silhouette canes, where the turned knob on the top of the cane cast a shadow of the profile of someone currently in official disfavor, such as Louis XVI or Napoleon.
  
  http://themanwhonevermissed.blogspot.sg/2012/03/clever-hairless-monkey-boys.html
Tristan b

This automatized way of creating animals allowed to make big series of animals. I can remember huge Noah’s Arches made this way. Here are three pictures taken from the excellent Brussels’ toy museum. http://cl.ly/3B242g3I0u2o
Robert Cruickshank

These animals would make a great cover for an edition of Animal Farm, ’cause that’s a volume of revolution, too.
rachel ten bruggencate

I had a farmset as a child in Germany that I am now 100% sure was made like this.
Daneel

My dad did something similar when turning a replacement knight for a chess set.
dr

This would be a nice aid for teaching the Theorem of Pappus.
http://profile.yahoo.com/KV3PDLBSUEJ3YCGEWYUGDQ664E Leo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GoRJT9L-kf8

Here’s a video on how it’s done
- miasm
  
  BUT HOW DO THEY DO THE LEGS!!!!!!?
  - Robert Cruickshank
    
    You can see in the boiling scene that they’ve drilled a hole to help carve the legs.
hipdadiddy

“Does this manufacturing process make my butt look big?”
Anthony I

That would make an awesome cheese wheel…
Preston Sturges

How now, round cow?
allium

Now, now, we didn’t get to the spherical cow from first principles. There were many incrimental steps along the way.
http://kff.myopenid.com/ hGUSs64m11nm3ssTYUKa

There is a video from a German Small Children TV Show about this profession called “Reifendreher”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRJT9L-kf8
http://twitter.com/52WharfRoad ChameleonInBolinas

Having neither horns nor udders, this looks much more like a sheep, than a cow. Still, pretty cool, and the video was fascinating, though dorky (and the woodworker wasn’t wearing safety glasses, shame on him).
http://dyingforbadmusic.com DFBM

Oh it’s nice to see something from my home here in the ore mountains :)
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

1) Slice 13 degrees of cow toy from wheel.
2) Provide cow toy to child.
3) Direct child to engage in play and merriment with cow. Say “now is the time for play. Play with the cow! SCHNELL!”
Preston Sturges

Nice to a story that does not involve CNC routers or 3-D printers.
http://www.facebook.com/KTRantingRedhead Katie MunchmaQuchi Smith

The Horni-man museum? No wonder they’ve got wood. :oX
http://twitter.com/Tapsuli Tapani Kuusisto

A silicone baking form? You could serve cow cake to your guests. Or ice cream, or just about anything…
smut clyde

Now I want to do this with frozen steak.
McGreens

I love article titles like this, that make little to no sense until you see the picture. “Ah yeah, a disc of wooden cow, of course!”
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Mann/1410926157 Michael Mann

Hey, cool – it comes from the area where I live. Poor man lived in the mountain area and they traditionally make wooden toys. One time they invented that kind of “manufacturing technology”. Come here and visit the area – its worth. http://www.erzgebirge-tourismus.de/cgi-bin/click.system?navid=110&lang=en
http://twitter.com/YMBFA jb

Still being made exactly the same way in Seiffen in Germany’s Erzgebirge