November 20, 2015

Seven Simple Wooden Ornaments Anyone Can Make

This week I thought it would be fun to make seven different holiday ornaments using seven of my saws! Mostly, this is about ideas and inspiration. There is something here for everyone. At the most basic, you can make a fun ornament by tracing a cookie cutter shape onto a board and cutting it out with a cheap coping saw. You don’t even need a workshop!

Download the cutting templates

I designed three cutting templates: for the two trees and the 2015 scroll saw ornament. Download the PDF here.

Saws I used to make these ornaments

1. Reciprocating Saw

Slices of logs turned into ornaments are extremely popular right now. I found an old branch on the ground across the street and just sliced it up! You can paint and decorate these in so many ways. I chose to apply a whitewash of thinned paint and then just painted stripes over it with acrylic craft paint. I finished it with spray lacquer.

2. Coping Saw

This is the most inexpensive way you can cut out ornaments. A coping saw will cost less than $10. Buy a small sheet of thin craft plywood and you can cut these out in your kitchen if you want! Trace out shapes using cookie cutters. I used a vise to hold the wood while cutting, but you can also just hold it firmly against a table top.

3. Jigsaw

A jigsaw is great for cutting curves and other small pieces. For this ornament, I pasted cutting templates to a board and just them each out. Cut the slots in each and file or sand them until you get a snug fit. After painting, slide the two together.

4. Miter Saw

I like to use my miter saw for chopping wood into short pieces. In many ways it can be quicker than setting up the table saw. For the snowman, I cut discs out of various diameters of dowels. I sanded flat spots to glue them together. I drilled holes for his arms and nose. For these I just snapped thin dowels to length and clued them in.

5. Table Saw

Cutting out the presents couldn’t be easier. I just chopped up a scrap 2×4 into random sized boxes, painted them and glued them together!

6. Band Saw

To make the 3D tree, I taped together scraps of wood using double-sided tape and pasted the template on top. I cut out the main tree shape, then removed a layer and cut the next shape, working my way down. After all the layers were cut out, I glued them together.