TOYMAKERS : DOING THE WORK OF SANTA'S ELVES.

Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News StaffWriter

When Christmas comes to the Crazy Horse School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Santa will deliver handmade wooden toy bulldozers and biplanes.

When Santa drops in on the Haven Hills shelter in the Valley, he'll bring a sackful of wooden jigsaw puzzles, boats and rocking horses.

And when he visits the children spending their Christmas in Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Santa will have a baby's cradle and a caterpillar on wheels.

Who are the elves responsible for all this handicraft? The 50 members of San Fernando Valley Woodworkers, a group of mostly retired professionals and hobbyists who get together monthly to discuss the finer points of routing, sanding and drilling.

Come the holidays, they put their skills to work making wooden treasures for needy and hospitalized children.

``Anybody can go out and buy something. That's the easy way out,'' said San Fernando Woodworkers president Arron Latt. ``It takes a lot of time and effort to do this. We can close our eyes and see the smiles on the kids' faces.''

Sam Epstein knows what it's like to be a child without any toys.

Growing up during the Depression in East Los Angeles, Esptein scoured alleys collecting apple crates. With little more than a hand saw, Epstein used the wood to make toys for his two younger sisters and the neighborhood children.

Now a retired production manager for a company that made wood shipping containers, the North Hollywood resident spends most days in the workshop in his garage.

Over the years, he has donated dozens of trucks, airplanes and bumblebees with flapping wings to children.

``I can't wait to get up in the morning to start making these toys,'' Epstein said. ``I even lay awake at night thinking about the designs. I just go all day long. I forget to eat. My wife has to remind me.

``I have so many friends who are retired, and they don't know what to do with themselves. They're just killing time. I'm just happy I have the ability to do something like this.''

Every November, the group members gather for two evenings of frenzied toy-making in the wood shop at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. Last week, they made a fleet of 100 toy bulldozers with movable plows.

Planning the project toys takes eight months. The first step is designing and building a prototype that's sturdy enough to take a beating without breaking, said Bob Rennie, a wood shop teacher at Van Nuys High School. This year, the group developed several prototypes before deciding on a design for the bulldozer that has 24 separate parts.

``The challenge is to design a toy that takes into account the number of people we have, the tools we have available and the time we have to make it,'' Rennie said.

Mac Pace, 76, a retired machinist and general contractor from Winnetka, made the jigs, a device made from wood and metal that's essential for mass production.

``It gives me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment,'' Pace said. ``We're giving something to children that might not have anything. We feel it's something they can remember and maybe even can hand down to their children.''

On assembly night, sawdust flew and table saws whirred. No one stopped for even so much as a coffee break.

``It's the highlight of my year,'' Rennie said. ``All of a sudden, from these little parts, toys were being produced.''

At a recent meeting, the group held its annual toy contest. Brad Bowers, 44, of Reseda took first place with a rocking horse with mane and tail made of yarn.

``I thought it would appeal to a child,'' Bowers said. ``Toys made out of wood have to compete with video games and much flashier stuff. The rocking horse is traditional, but it says, `Get on and ride me.' ''

Karen Frazer of Mission Hills, entered a jigsaw puzzle she made from an old bed frame. Frazer, 49, one of the group's only female members, started woodworking 10 years ago when she signed up for night school.

``I always wanted to try woodworking, but when I was a kid in high school, all the girls wore dresses,'' Frazer said. ``People would have fainted if I had expressed an interest in woodworking.''

But can a toy made from wood compete with flashier plastics and high-tech video? The folks who deliver Christmas goodies to children and their families say these handmade gifts most certainly can.

``It's the heart that moves the hands to create these toys,'' said Toni Taback,a social worker at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, who came to Thursday night's meeting to pick up the donated toys. ``The toys that you create are about patience. The children are perhaps a bit too young to appreciate things you can't touch, but they do treasure a perfectly made toy.''

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8 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) The JOYS of making TOYS

50 of Santa's elves live not at the North Pole but in the Valley

(2--Color) Sam Epstein spends most days in his garage workshop. ``I can't wait to get up in the morning to start making these toys,'' Epstein says.

(3--Color) Members of San Fernando Valley Woodworkers display their batch of newly completed bulldozers in the wood shop at Pierce College.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News

(4--Color) Anthony Rice, 5, plays with a toy airplane judged at the San Fernando Valley Woodworkers' annual contest.

(5--6--Color) Handmade elephants, grasshoppers on wheels and bulldozers are among the toys given to hospitalized children.

(7--8--Color) A toy tugboat sails through the competition, with a caterpillar not far behind, at the woodworkers' contest.

John McCoy/Daily News