Wood for bandsaw reindeer

[david mcintyre]

Seeing that Christmas is right around the corner I've been thinking of trying my hand at some bandsaw reindeer.
I remember reading that you should use hardwood because the legs break really easy if you just use yellow pine 2x4's. Does anyone have a suggestion as to which species? (I don't necessarily want to break the bank either.) I
figure once I get the technique on some scrap 2x4's I'd switch to the hardwood.
As always, thanks in advance.
Dave.

[Mastruca e Cambales]

hi, David. I only try once with a cupressus scrap and it worked great

[Bill Dindner]

Olive wood would be a nice choice. Although might be expensive depending on your location, maple is a good choice and it’s generally pretty cheap.

[Doug Garson]

If you are really on a budget check out the dunnage piles at your local Lowes or Home Depot etc. If you're not familiar with the term dunnage is the wood used for shipping purposes. Most of it may be softwood but there's often a few pieces of hardwood sometimes tropical hardwood in the pile. Just make sure you see the letters HT on it, that means it has been heat treated to kill any insects. All wood used for international shipping must be treated to kill insects, if it doesn't say HT it may be chemically treated. Here's a hold down clamp I made from some, what I think is some type of mahogany I picked up from the dunnage pile at my local Lowes.



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[Jerry Miner]

I've made reindeer successfully with pine and cherry. I think you can use whatever species you have available. Here's a (poor) pic of a set from cherry:

Reindeer [1].jpg

[Doug Garson]

Or cedar, I wonder if they are related?
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[Charles Lent]

I make 4 sizes, from about 3 1/2" tall down to about 1" tall. I have made the larger sizes from most anything, but mostly pine. The 1" tall I make from hard maple because they are so fragile. I use a DeWalt scroll saw and #1R blade for all four sizes. I can cut the larger ones in about 8 minutes. The little ones from maple take about 15 minutes each. I've been making these every year for the past 12 years, and giving them away during the Christmas Season. Last year I made 426. I doubt that I'll ever make that many again.

Here are a few from a previous year along with some ornaments, also done on the scroll saw..

Charley

[david mcintyre]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I'll use good old pine for starters. Thanks for the advice.
Sincerely, Dave.

p.s. 426!!! Charles that's awesome.

[John K Jordan]

...check out the dunnage ...the wood used for shipping purposes.

For anyone looking for interesting wood, I found a local company that makes granite countertops also has give-away wood that came in with the huge stone slabs. I found a number of full-sized 2x4 lengths, some which had beautiful figure and color, all "exotics" to us. I've used it for wood turning. Some was hard and heavy.

If making reindeer to hang as Christmas ornaments you might consider a light-weight wood such as buckeye, butternut, cedar, or basswood. I bought 4' long planks of beautiful pure white northern basswood from Heinecke wood products in Winconsin. The shipping by UPS to TN was quite reasonable.

JKJ