When I was a kid, my Dad made one of these "wooden tractors", from a wooden spool. 
He used a single blade razor to cut the notches along the edge of the spool. Then he carved a piece of wax with a hole in the middle and a groove across it. Then he hammered a small nail on the opposite side for the rubber band that went through the spool, the wax piece and is held in place with a toothpick.
All you do is wind it up, set it down and watch it run across the floor, like a tractor.
I was at a black powder muzzleloader show with all the accessories, in Xenia, today. I spotted a basket of wooden spools and it reminded me of the tractor my Dad made, when I was a kid. I described it to the tractor creation to the vendor and she gave me one.
This is the first time I've made one of these since my Dad made one for me, over 50 years ago.
He used a single blade razor to cut the notches along the edge of the spool. Then he carved a piece of wax with a hole in the middle and a groove across it. Then he hammered a small nail on the opposite side for the rubber band that went through the spool, the wax piece and is held in place with a toothpick.
All you do is wind it up, set it down and watch it run across the floor, like a tractor.
I was at a black powder muzzleloader show with all the accessories, in Xenia, today. I spotted a basket of wooden spools and it reminded me of the tractor my Dad made, when I was a kid. I described it to the tractor creation to the vendor and she gave me one.
This is the first time I've made one of these since my Dad made one for me, over 50 years ago.