Bandsaw Reindeer

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Well i got orders from SWMBO to make a bunch of bandsaw reindeer that will teach me not to show her pictures.
I was not expecting our weather to turn as bad as it has as fast as it has this season so cutting them out in the garage became out of the question.
So together we brought the bandsaw inside into the basement. We tried manhandling it down the stairs in one piece and then I made an executive decision :) to rather take it apart and move smaller more manageable components all went well and its back together again. I was very lucky on the height. It clears things in my "temp basement shop" space by 2 inches.

Got wood prepped had to laminate to get a decent thickness and have the woodgears plan version cut printed and cut ready to apply to the block.

Before i cut this lot out (using cherry wood just bigger than 2x4 in proportions of width and thickness and whatever the height comes out at, are there any specific tips anyone can offer that would help make this smooth going.
Have picked up a new 1/8 and 3/16 blade just to be fully prepared. As i understand it 3/16 is the blade to use. Anyone differ with that.?

If you have made these what finish have you used and did you sand them and if so was it hand or did you manage to do it with a osc spindle sander?

Thanks for any tips or advice. I got 9 to do. I aint really the kind of person thats suited to production runs. Going to have to work on keeping focused.

Will make a few test units first to get the hang of it.

My bandsaw is more than up to the job.

One concern i have is tension on this size blade.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2
 
Rob, I found it "impossible" to locate a 1/8" blade with a coarse TPI that I felt would be appropriate to prevent clogging for the height of cut for the larger reindeer size (~5" tall) I was originally planning on making. This is probably because for a 1/8" blade the gullet depth of a coarse pitch would weaken the blade too much. I don't know what TPI you have on your 1/8" blade, the one I have is (14) if I recall correctly. So, on this basis, I would recommend the 3/16" or 1/4" blade, preferably the 3/16".

I would keep a tight tension on the blade, as much as the blade will allow without breaking the blade. The torsional stress wiil be high on the tight contours.

I would use a wood with a tight grain to prevent possible "grain delamination" on the antlers as the contours get a bit tight in that area.

I picked up a Carter blade "stabilizer" guide for scrolling on the BS. This guide is used by itself, without other guides (upper or lower) & works well with a 1/4" blade. Reference http://www.carterproducts.com/band-saw-products/band-saw-stabilizer to see if they have a model for your saw.

I tried making a reindeer on my scroll saw out of 3/4" poplar wood & shortly realized that if I was going to make any more of these it would be from a "softer" wood.

Be sure the saw is tuned well with the blade square in all (3) axis's, otherwise the leg thicknesses will show up any errors in tuning.
 
For the big reindeer I use 3/16" blades. I use a spindle sander to do the curves and a hand block for the flats. I finish fir and redwood both with shellac.

Reindeer-tall.JPG

For the little guys I use the scrollsaw but, also shellac them.

Reindeer-round-small.jpg

The big ones end up on mantles and folks have had them as recurring decorations for some time (which makes me smile). The little ones we tie onto gifts as part of the decoration with the same ribbon we make the bows out of. I see some folks have converted theirs, from previous years, into tree ornaments.
 
Last edited:
I made a few out of cherry, a full 2" x 4" last year. I modified a design I found online to give me a four legged deer. I copied the plan onto plain paper and glued the front and side profiles to the block and cut them out with a 1/8" blade. I think it was 10 tpi. It worked fine as far as clearing the blade, I just had to go slow. I was using blades from R&D bandsaw in Brampton. They cost $8.25 each, and I did go through a few, mostly trying to back out of cuts. I sanded the reindeer, gave them a coat of black cherry finish, and sprayed them with shellac. They were very popular presents to those I gave them to.
 
Top