
Post-Haste Project: How to Make Wooden Christmas Reindeer
WWGOA EditorsWondering how to make a wooden reindeer so you can give them out as gifts or decorate your mantle? It’s easy! Grab a 2×4, trace the wooden reindeer pattern we provide and get started making reindeer. A warning; when people see these reindeer they’re going to love them, so be ready to make an entire herd.
How to make Wooden Reindeer
Here’s what you need to do to get going on this woodworking project. First, print out our wooden reindeer pattern. It’s full size, so don’t do any enlarging or reducing of the pattern. If you’re going to make a lot of reindeer, transfer the pattern to a wooden template so it can tolerate lots of tracing. Set up a 3/16”, 10 TPI blade in the bandsaw. Trace the pattern onto a 2×4, make one cut, tape the parts back together, and make the second cut. A little sanding, and your reindeer is ready.
Bandsaw Techniques
The reindeer is made using compound cuts on the bandsaw. Compound cutting is a great way to produce three dimensional items, and the bandsaw is the perfect tool for this. The bandsaw is a very versatile tool, so be sure to check out all the great articles and instructional videos on how to use a bandsaw that WoodWorkers Guild of America provides.
Have fun making this great project!
19 Responses to “Post-Haste Project: How to Make Wooden Christmas Reindeer”
Explore videos by WWGOA Editors
Premium Membership
Unlock exclusive member content from our industry experts.
- 24/7 Access to Premium Woodworking Videos, Projects, and Tips
- Step-by-Step Instructional Demos, Plans, and Tutorials
- 50% Off Video Downloads Purchased in the Woodworkers Guild of America Shop
- 2 Printable Woodworking Plans
Unlock exclusive member content from our industry experts.
- 24/7 Access to Premium Woodworking Videos, Projects, and Tips
- Step-by-Step Instructional Demos, Plans, and Tutorials
- 50% Off Video Downloads Purchased in the Woodworkers Guild of America Shop
- 2 Full-Length Video Downloads to Watch Offline
- 2 Printable Woodworking Plans
Gold Membership
$370 Value
Get everything included in Premium plus exclusive Gold Membership benefits.
- 24/7 Access to Premium Woodworking Videos, Projects, and Tips
- Step-by-Step Instructional Demos, Plans, and Tutorials
- 8 Full-Length Video Downloads to Watch Offline
- 3 Full-Length Woodworking Classes to Keep for Life
- 7 Printable Woodworking Plans
- Discounts on Purchase-to-Own Content in the Woodworkers Guild of America Shop
- Access to Ask the Expert Program
- Exclusive GOLD LIVE Streaming Events
Please stop the music. It’s annoying
Thanks for the feedback, I will forward this on!
Any paint or stain pattern suggestions?
Hi Glenn. I leave mine unfinished, but you could paint or stain this with anything that you want. We do not have any patterns available for the paint/stain process. If you paint it, I’d suggest applying a primer first.
Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
wonder if i can make this with a jig saw
Will 1/4″ blade work?
John,
Yep, that shouldn’t be a problem. Cleaning out the area between the antlers and between the legs might be a little bit tricky, but really not bad at all. I would suggest making some relief cuts under in this area to prevent the blade from binding.
Good luck!
-Paul
Woodworkers Guild of America
I saw where George was encouraging us to submit our wooden reindeer.
But I can’t remember where to. I’ve made a whole herd of various sizes for gifts later.
Pls help
THX Dave
Thanks for the note! The contest related to this has ended, but please post your pic to our FaceBook page anyway so we and the rest of the community can see your work:
https://www.facebook.com/WoodworkersGuild/
Computer says file not there
Hi John. Please try refreshing the page or you can try a different browser. Let us know if you are still having issues.
Thanks
Jean
WWGOA Video Membership
If one were to make the second cut FIRST, then trace the reindeer on the back of the piece and cut, this would eliminate having to tape the pieces together. RGK
Great, printed out full size no problems. I made mine with a piece of Yew. Video fine on iPad and Windows PC. Many thanks.
could not get the video to work, but did download pattern ! what do i need to do ?
Hi, Alex!
We apologize that you are having difficulty viewing the videos.
In order to view the Premium video content, you need to make sure that you are signed in using your Premium Member username and password.
Our video content is best viewed on a computer manufactured in the past few years with a good broadband internet connection (not dial up). We highly recommend using the latest version of Firefox or Safari as your Internet browser. Recent versions of Internet Explorer will work, as well. You will need Adobe Flash Player in order to view the videos. Please make sure your anti-virus software is updated and not blocking this website.
Here are some links which will help you with installing updated versions.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download-ie
Please let us know if you continue to have trouble with accessing the video content and we will perform additional troubleshooting with you by contacting us at 1-855-706-3535.
Where’s the free pattern?
Here’s what you need to do to get going on this woodworking project. First, print out our wooden reindeer pattern (https://d2culxnxbccemt.cloudfront.net/wwgoa/content/uploads/wwgoa/2015/12/02115814/WWGOA-Reindeer-project.pdf). It’s full size, so don’t do any enlarging or reducing of the pattern. If you’re going to make a lot of reindeer, transfer the pattern to a wooden template so it can tolerate lots of tracing. Set up a 3/16”, 10 TPI blade in the bandsaw. Trace the pattern onto a 2×4, make one cut, tape the parts back together, and make the second cut. A little sanding, and your reindeer is ready.
How do i download the template?
The link to the pattern is in the description …..print out our wooden reindeer pattern….. Click on the words “our wooden reindeer pattern.”