Khon Tam Khrok Mong (Rice-Pounding Figure Toy) — a Bamboo Base and Mortar, a Figure Jointed with Wooden Pins, and a Paddle-Shaped Lever with Two Holes; Press the Lever and the Pestle Rises and Falls Like Pounding Rice

"Press the lever down and the upright moves up (like a person's foot stepping down)." (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author not named, CC BY 4.0)

Choose bamboo and cut a whole internode for the base. Cut bamboo to make the mortar and glue it to the base. Use hardwood scraps for the head, arms, legs and pestle; the body is a small bamboo internode. Drill holes at the joints and push wooden pins through to hold them.

Drill holes in the base, fit the figure, beam, pestle and post into the base, and add glue.

Shave bamboo into a shape like a boat paddle and drill two holes: the hole at the root forms the pivot at the base, and the hole at the tip takes a wooden pin fixed to the top of the pestle. This mechanism works as a lever.

Photos of a real khon tam khrok mong (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author not named, CC BY 4.0)

Press the lever down and the upright moves up, like a person's foot stepping down on the khrok mong.

The maker devised this toy so children could picture pounding rice. Pounding rice used to be part of everyday life, and it was not found made as a toy before. Today only 1 person can still make it. Take care with the knife when shaving the wood. Source: Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Traditional Objects of Everyday Use database, "คนตำครกมอง", author not named (CC BY 4.0 licence). **Limits** The source gives no sizes. The steps use hardwood scraps, but the materials list says softwood. The materials list includes sandpaper, but the steps do not say where it is used.