The Great Depression
In 1930, the Great Depression hit Denmark, and the first to be hit was agriculture. That meant that Ole would need to make smaller things. He started making small household items - trestle ladders, ironing boards, Christmas tree stands, step ladders, and some small toys. Around the middle of the Great Depression, Gotfred Kirk Christiansen started helping his father in the business. The two expanded the line of toys, with at least 28 different designs. Large and simple in construction, Ole's first wooden toys were mostly vehicles, ferries, boats, airplanes, and buses. The toys were built with the same quality as Ole made furniture. The wood Ole used was typically birch, shipped straight from the forest, air-dried for two years, and kiln-dried for three weeks. Ole would assemble the toys, then they would be sealed, sanded, primed, then last but not least, finished with three coats of paint. Kirstine died in 1932, which left Ole to raise their four sons on his own.
Image from www.miniland.nl