During the second World War, they made a lot of toys out of pressed sawdust, instead of metal. This was before plastics were common. You could buy a pressed sawdust army 45 at the dime store for cheap, but they chipped, and after you played with them awhile, you could see the sawdust. They made dolls heads out of pressed sawdust, too... for the gurl types (I notice this is mostly guys in this thread.) The problem with pressed sawdust was that if it got wet, it expanded exponentially. Leave your army 45 out in the rain and it became this ugly, misshapen chunk of oatmeal. Leave your doll out in the rain, and it became Stephen King's worst nightmare. I'm surprised he hasn't written a book about it yet.