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I make a lot of the Reindeer each year and have been for a long time. I get bored making the bigger ones and anything above 3/4" as they are easy to make. One of my favorite uses for the tiny reindeer is to put them in ornaments. I make a few each year and give them away. On larger ones, I use a pin with a red head for the nose.

Sorry. I found this and had to cut it. My wife and daughter just shook their heads at me and my sisters laughed. I can only hang it in the garage though.

Very simple, but I like simple!

Okay just thought I’d share some info with The Excalibur. I have some big orders that came in over the last few days so I’ve been doing a lot of cutting. Yesterday I hooked up my shop vac to the dust port provided on my EX21. I cut out 130 custom Christmas ornaments yesterday and about 30 so far this morning. I was going to take a picture last night and forgot. Then was going to today before I got started. But went right to work. Just thought about it and looked to see just how much mess I’ve made. Not too much as normally there’d be a big pile on top of the angle adjustment knob etc. I do have a small amount on the floor that I believe is more from the top of the saw table as some of the dust I noticed up top and on the table, but even that is minimal compared to just using the box fan. I didn’t have that set up during this test but I think I’ll try that on the other half of this order. Anyway, 160 ornaments cut and not much mess to show for it. Going to have to make a mess so the wife don’t think I’m just playing around instead of cutting this order.

My DeWalt didn't like much below 25-30F it'd spit and spudder for the first couple of cuts.. I didn't like running it that way so I put a heater back by the motor and let it warm up a little before I started sawing... Then I bought my Hawk.. I think that thing would run in anything.. but I do know it wouldn't run when the power went out once,

Here is my pattern from inkscape. I hope this works for those who want it. If not feel free to modify-

Finally got these done, hopefully they will be good sellers.

im not sure of the lowest operating temp of the dewalt is, but my lowest operating temp is about 40 degrees.

Try it again with a piece of soft wood like pine or poplar and look for wood that has almost no visible grain lines. Square your blade both front to back as well as side to side. Use high blade tension. I run the tension about 4 out of the 5 max on my DeWalt. It's almost tight enough that you think it will break, but with a good saw it won't. I would go with a #1 or #2 skip tooth reverse blade. Use a good brand of new blade and your fuzzies should only require a few strokes of a fingernail sanding stick if any at all. I get no fuzzies at all for the first 3 or 4 reindeer and then the blade begins to dull. I replace it with a new blade when the reindeer begins to get a Sun tan in places. If the blade cut without burning when it was new, something has changed. At the same speed it can only be a dull blade. At the cost of $ 0.20-0.30 each I just trash them. Of course, you could slow the saw some and get another reindeer or two before the Sun tan problem re-appears, but why do this for suck a low cost blade. You want to enjoy this hobby don't you? Try a #1 or #2R Skip tooth blade and I think you will have better luck. Run the blade tight and make certain that it is square both ways to the table. Compound cutting is quite a bit different that flat work or stack cutting. It's going to take some practice, a good clamp, and patience. Don't give up now. Keep at it and you will have it figured out in no time. Charley

For my larger reindeer, I use pieces of 1 X 2 which is actually 3/4 X 1 1/2 and the length is just a bit longer than the reindeer pattern is tall. The wood for my larger reindeer is either pine or poplar, but look for wood that has as very little hard grain lines as possible, since the hard grain lines can deflect the blade. I usually use a Flying Dutchman #1 or #2 skip tooth blade with the reverse teeth on the bottom. For the two smaller sizes I've found that soft woods don't work because they break too easily. I've gone to hard maple for the smallest and either hard or soft maple for the next larger. Blades go dull much quicker when cutting either the hard or soft maple and if you have been cutting well with a new blade and then all of a sudden the reindeer begins to get a Sunburn tan in places, you have a dull blade and It's time for a new one. I use high blade tension on my DeWalt saw when cutting reindeer or doing other compound cutting, usually a #4 tension setting. Absolute squareness of the blade to the table is required, both in the side to side direction and well as the front to back direction. If it isn't perfectly square you are going to make some weird looking reindeer and the scraps will be difficult to remove. This is very true with all compound cutting, and not just the reindeer. I use maple for the two smallest sizes, because anything else that I've tried is so soft that their legs or antlers fall off before completion, or very shortly afterward. For the ear ring size it is always hard maple, For ear ring reindeer I found that drilling the hole through their heads went easier if I did the drilling first and then cut them on the scroll saw. Having a flat surface makes the tiny drill bit walk around much less and you get the hole where you want it, and not where it ends up. The tiny bits are extremely flexible, and fragile. I have even resorted to using a very small machinests center crill bit to put a dimple where I want to drill the hole. I now have two bench top drill presses side by side because of this, one with the center drill and one with the small drill bit. The bit size will depend on your jewelry findings. I have bought from Hobby Lobby, but have gone to internet purchases from Fire Mountain Gems to get larger volumes at better pricing. They have been very good to me so far. I have now named the 4 sizes of reindeer that I make to help me keep track of them, their patterns, and keeping the blocks of wood for making them from getting mixed. Rudy - short for Rudolf is the largest. Then there is Judy,- his wife. - she is a little shorter than Rudy, followed by Trudy- the teenager, a little shorter than Judy, and then the little guy that becomes the ear rings is simply Junior. So far, in the last 14 years of making reindeer, as of last Thursday I have made and given away 4,327 reindeer. All get black magic marker eyes and a big red nose. When I first started making them I carried the red marker and at the point of giving one away I would ask what his name was. About 90% wanted Rudolph, so now they all get red noses and I leave the red marker in the shop. The first reindeer that I made were first cut on the scroll saw, and then rounded to look more real. Then I was applying a very light brown stain followed by 2 coats of clear spray lacquer. Then I found that people loved them with no final shaping or finishing, so Rudy and Judy go to new homes with only the magic marker eyes and nose, and no sanding or finishing, other than a few strokes of a fingernail board on the corners to remove the fuzzies. The smallest two sizes, Trudy and junior, get the fingernail file treatment and then the clear lacquer spray. I sometimes trim the fingernail files with scissors to make the end narrower, so it fits in tight places. No staining and no rounding is ever done anymore. It's a sickness, and for me there seems to be no cure. Also, after reading this post, I think this sickness that I have, may be contagious and I've given it to all of you. The "bug" that makes you want to make reindeer just like me. I just can't stop making them, and giving them all away. I now make them and give them away all year, and not just at Christmas time. I made a special tool for removing the wood from between their legs and antlers. It's just a 6" length of 1/8" beech dowel rod, sharpened at both ends with a pencil sharpener. When clearing the wood from between their antlers, I've found that it goes easiest when pushed from the rear of their head forward. Once this piece is out, the side pieces come way without catching easily. The pieces between their legs are always easy to remove, but this tool makes it easier. I also use this tool to hold down a piece of the pattern if it begins to pull loose. If it gets cut I can always return to the pencil sharpener. This tool resides in my shirt pocket, so it is very close and handy to reach for when I need it. My little scroll saw tool box usually has about a dozen of these already sharpened and ready, so I don't even need to stop when I loose or cut the tip off of one. I pre-fold the cut patterns along a straight line between their front and side views by positioning the side view on the wide side of a piece of wood, let the face view hang off the edge of the wood with the line between the two views centered along the sharp edge of the wood. Then I run my thumb down the edge of the wood, creasing the pattern along the line between the two images. I do a whole bunch this way, using the same block of wood. Then I open the bottle of rubber cement and evenly coat one edge and one side of the block of wood. Then I pick up one of the pre-folded patterns and apply it, making certain that the reindeer's feet touch the end of the block of wood. I use rubber cement because it holds well, and because there is no need to remove a paper pattern when doing compound cutting. All of the pattern falls off along with the wood scraps, much like a baby chick sheds the pieces of his shell. The reindeer is in the center, just like the baby chick. Charley

He loves Halloween! One is shadylady's pattern and not sure on the other ones .

I'm not sure about the saw but I can tell you for sure that I'm not good below 60 degrees. I lose all interest in most everything when it gets too cold. That's why I live where I live. The good old Pacific Ocean acts as a radiator and keeps the temp swings pretty mild.

I I don't know how my Hawk responds to cold weather. My shop never gets below 50F. It's me that does not handle cold well. I would do well in Arizona but it's my wife that would die there. She keeps our house cold enough to hang beef.

Hi Fish I find this funny Why do I find this funny? Because it's true...LOL Thanks Fab4

https://www.woodworkerssource.com/

I do t know how to do the quote thing but here is a site for sepele and other woods. https://www.woodworkerssource.com/

Had a request to make a "girly" snowman for all the girl names, so I added some pink....they also wanted ear muffs.....she stands 18" tall......comments as always.....thank you

These are just two examples of my jewelry that were scrolled, filled with clay and on occasion I added crystal pieces for more bling.

I like her. I'm attaching a photo of a girl snowperson that I designed and made for my granddaughter about 10 years ago:

Good job on the balance beam. If you made one for me it would require seat belts so i couldn't fall off it trying to sit on it

Don't be intimidated by intarsia, it is almost all outside cuts. The secret is to pick a piece with only a few pieces. I have some with only 7 or 8. These would give you the chance to try your hand at shaping fitting. You will be amazed how fun they can be. I would suggest that you stay under 35 piece patterns to start. Give it a try, you can do it Dick heppnerguy

My eyes aren't good enough to make them that size. You have much better eyes than me. I do like making ornaments similar to this, but without the reindeer inside. Charley

Thank you all for the nice welcome! Marg, he put them all together and we did the finishes. After my first 3 days getting to know the saw and scrolling, my appreciation for what all of you do has increased ten-fold! Now I need to find the "beginner" section here.....you know where I can ask about why my puzzles seem loose fitting, wood jumping around, speed up or slow down, changing blades, and why does my neck and back ache after 2 hours ? Ok so I am 60 and may be the answer to that last one. Everything is still a little hurky jerky (?) but hopefully with practice will smooth out. Oh, and watching videos doesn't seem to work for me either. Good thing I have a sense of humor

I made note of this place in your other post so I will check it out. I asked in that post also but will ask here as well. Have you ordered from these people and if so what type quality of product?? Also how is the service and delivery system?? Thanks again nd excuse the redundant questions.

Always looking for new sources of lumber of any kind and this place looks interesting. Have you ordered from them before and what about quality of product?? Also how well do they deliver?? Thanks for the link.

Did you try Tague Lumber? Also try http://www.philadelphiawoodworks.com/lumber_yard_photos/

Excellently done. Love the wood choice. Thanks for sharing this with us. DW

When your boomerang won't come back it's one thing. But when your DoDo bird won't walk, now that causes me to get real wrankled. Disgusting is what it is! I did eventually get it to walk three steps one time. Mostly the thing just falls over on it's beak. It is cut exactly like the pattern but somehow the geometry is not quite right. I'll try taping weights in various places to see if it makes a difference. If nothing helps I won't paint it. It will go into the circular file. Cheees!

Nice!!!

Your the best, Thank you!

A work of art!

I like it!

That is amazing!

I just did as you suggested Dave and it works like a charm. Very easy to make any adjustments to the drawing. I think I might get to where I understand Inkscape yet.

Import this JPEG, then trace bitmap. Then you can do whatever you want to it. Let me know if you need anything else.

I agree 100% regarding Steve Good. He has been, and continues to be, a huge influence and inspiration to this old man.

He looks very good, but You didn't say how tall he is. Nice smooth arcs and shape though. Be careful now that you are making them Reindeer can fly, if seen by a female wandering through your shop. These little guys seem to be in high demand by females of all ages. Only men who are woodworkers will admit that they like them. Add some black eyes and a red nose. I use marking pens. It dries almost instantly. Charley Charley

A great attempt, but I can see that you had to increase the size of their legs after shrinking the pattern down to that size because their legs will fall off if cut at the reduced pattern size. I've done a few tiny ones like that, but my eyes and fingers aren't good enough for that size any more, and I just spend too much time making small pieces of firewood. My goal was to be able to make ear rings using them, and my 3/4" tall ones are good for this purpose with almost no failures, so very little firewood. I'm now making small 5/8" tall black walnut crosses for ear rings and I have a larger 1 1/2" tall version that I will be cutting for use on a neck chain. Sorry, no pictures yet, as I'm still working on how to go about cutting them well. So far I have one good pair completed and found out that my clamping idea for cutting them was a complete failure. Now to find a better way. They are only 1/8" thick. Charley

I cut the miniature reindeer from oak, ash and Sycamore. The smallest that I have cut is just over 3/8" tall.

You have done beautiful work! Glad you posted for us. Thanks.

I like it! Comments on a Snowperson's gender identity should be avoided.

You have done some beautiful scrolling there Jackie! Thank you for the photo's, Bob

Thats mine reindeer. Wood - pine. Blade -?

With wood that thick, I would use a skip tooth blade and a #5. Here are some small ones I cut year so.

Hi Brenda. It's on a free clip art site. I Googled "birds flying from tree clip art. I added a couple of birds and modified the tree a bit. Glad you like it.

well i did not get rich!!! BUT i took in enough to pay my monetary investment for all i made. made some connections and have been invited to 2 cons. one is in a town i spent my summers in as a kid., Metropolis, Il at the 41st Superman Celebration next spring. anyway... here was my first set up.... best part is i got to spend the day with my best friend.... my wife

So nice to see you posting your wonderful projects. Nothing is more fun then to make things for friends and family, especially the grandkids. Mine have a lot of my work too. They especially love the intarsia pieces I have done for them. you are an impressive lady. Looking forward to seeing more of your work Dick heppnerguy

Yep Ray, Tie me Kangaroo down sport Great songs when we all had a sense of humour.

Check to see if there is a Paxton Lumber in your area. I think there are some around the country.