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!
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 ?
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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.”