The Christmas Tree Ornaments

Five great designs for turned or sawn Ornaments

The Sawn Ornaments
Here are four traditional Holiday shapes that can be quickly scroll sawn (or bandsawn) to make great, highly marketable Christmas Tree Ornaments. We made ours from 1/4" plywood, then painted them with the appropriate designs. However, Ornaments such as these made from attractive hardwoods such as cherry, walnut, birdseye maple, quarter-sawn oak or even some of the more attractive exotics will be just as marketable when left "natural" without painting.

1: Begin by preparing your stock to the appropriate thickness (1/4") and approximate dimension.

2: Transfer the patterns shown here to stiff cardboard (or similar material) for use as templates.

3: Temporarily attach a stack of Ornament blanks together with Double-Stick Tape in preparation for pad sawing (sawing a stack of identically-shaped objects to shape at once). For a Scroll Saw, this is usually slightly less than 2" (7 of our 1/4" thick ornaments) - for the Shopsmith Bandsaw, we'd recommend stacking no more than about 12 of our 1/4" thick ornaments.

4: Trace your pattern onto the top blank in your stack and cut the entire stack to shape at once.

5: Smooth the edges of the cut-out ornaments using a collection of Small Sanding Drums or a Strip Sander where possible. For really "tight" areas, use small files or hand sanding sticks made by gluing fine sandpaper to small diameter dowels.

6: If you're planning to paint your Ornaments, start with an oil-based primer. Use a pencil to draw your designs on the primed surface then paint, as desired. Once dried, spray with a clear over-coat of polyurethane or varnish.

7: Drill a 3/32" diameter hole where indicated in the plans and use decorative string or brass wire to hang them.

Suggested retail prices (depending on complexity of design & wood used):
Turned Ornaments: $7 to $12 each
Cutout Ornaments: $3 to $5 each

Printer Friendly PDF copy of Instructions (572K)
Stocking Pattern, Angel Pattern, Gingerbreadman Pattern, Candy Cane Pattern

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