Giant Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle

A classic American toy. Whimmy Diddle, Whammy Diddle, or Hoey Stick, whatever you call it they are all cool. There are some great Instructables on how to make Gee Haw Whimmy Diddles.

like crrdlx's https://www.instructables.com/id/I-Have-a-Whammy-D...

and savvas_papasavva's https://www.instructables.com/id/Native-American-T...

Phil B's https://www.instructables.com/id/Whittled-Hooey-St...

and even a lazer cut version by masynmachien https://www.instructables.com/id/Hooey-Stick/

I decided to make mine different by scaling it up... way up. I had a 70+ year old oak tree get waterlogged roots and blow over by a recent storm. I am going to make some other things out of it, but first I couldn't resist trying to make a giant Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle. Plus I thought it would be good to enter in the Big And Small Contest!

There are many ways to get hurt making a Giant Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle. Falling trees, Exploding Chainsaws, Burning Limbs, and Sonic Booms....just to name a few. Do not try this Instructable.

If you are going to ignore the previous safety warning, you will at least need to wear some protective equipment. I wore earplugs, safety glasses, leather gloves, long pants, and steel toe boots.

I used a chainsaw to make all the cuts and a brace and bits to make the holes. I used a small log to hammer in the nine inch nail mainly because it was close and I had left the hammer in the garage.

I used an oak tree that had fallen over but was still off the ground. The only item I did buy was one nine inch nail, for the axle of the propeller.

I cut 21 notches in the tree. The exact number is not important, it just happened to be how many I cut. I cut them at an angle of about 45 degrees. When you rub a stick on the notches, it vibrates the log and makes the propeller spin.

I thought I would mention how I measured the spacing for the notches. All I did was use the width of the chainsaw bar to measure and mark the spaces. Sometimes people get all caught up on measuring exactly. Sometime exact measurements are important, but sometimes something simple works the best. And then no one argues over whether inches are better or if we should all use metric.

I made two different propellers. The larger propeller I made out of a section of tree about six inches in diameter and two feet long. I tried to make it a bit fancy and slim in the middle. It seamed a bit heavy, so I made a smaller, more simple propeller out of a section three inches in diameter.

The hole in the propellers has to be bigger than the nine inch nail diameter. It has to let the propeller spin freely on the nine inch nail. You want the hole to be as close to the balance point as you can get it.

The hole in the end of the log has to be about the same diameter as the nine inch nail and not too deep. You want the nine inch nail to be able to be hammered a little way into the tree and still leave room for the propeller to spin.

I put the propeller on with the nine inch nail. I hammered it in softly using the small propeller. After unsuccessful attempts to make the large propeller work, I used the large propeller as a slide hammer to pull out the nine inch nail and then attached the smaller propeller.

I tried with a smaller log and large propeller. I was unsuccessful with that combination, so I switched to a smaller propeller and a large log to rub the notches. The large log was so heavy and cumbersome that I was only able to push it one direction at a time. I was able to get a partial rotation out of the propeller and believe that if I had the help of a few more people that we could maintain some rotation of the propeller. The Giant Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle is more of a novelty proof of concept and I see it's future being re purposed into a green wood working draw horse.

As usual, I made a video.

Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoy.