Project Information
I built 16 houses in about a month! OK, so they're very little houses. There's not much here by way of woodworking skill or difficulty. Still, there is a fair amount of tedious and repetitive work.
These are 16 maple Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of a house. The story behind these is as follows. Hurricane Irene hit the east coast in 2011 and it was a pretty destructive storm. We still owned my parents' home at the time and the maple tree in the back yard lost a significantly sized limb. As I cut the limb into manageable logs, something moved me to keep three of them. I brought them home, band sawed them into rough boards and stored them (stickered) in my shed for two years. When a moisture meter indicated the boards were at about 7%, I milled them into finished lumber boards. As you can imagine, the yield was not great (photos #5 and #6) but still, I knew I could make something from them and during the "drying years" I had decided to make a small gift for each of my parents' 16 grandchildren. I kept putting off the project until, this year, I resolved to do it. I have two daughters. I asked both of them, independently, what I might make, given the limited supply of maple. They both suggested a tree ornament.
Knowing how much the grandkids enjoyed family gatherings at the old homestead, I came up with the idea of a house ornament and thought it might be nice to include the house number. I made a template of the house shape from 1/8 inch Baltic birch and cut most of the house shape at the band saw and the numbers at the scroll saw. I ran into a snag when I realized I would lose the center of the zero! Plan B was to use the template for the shape of the house and then temporarily glue printed numbers on the pieces for scroll sawing. To save time and effort I used double stick tape to do the sawing in pairs. I used the disc section of my belt/disc sander to refine the rough cuts as well as some hand sanding and filing. I added a thin piece of maple behind the zero and glued the centers to it. I then sanded that support piece even thinner.
The finish is several coats of spray shellac and a coat of Howard's Feed n Wax.
My siblings and I have fond memories of growing up in that house and our children have similar memories of time spent visiting Nana and Grandpa. With these little ornaments, they will always have a piece or a part of that home to cherish. And, they can pass them on to their children, etc. I presented the ornaments at a family Christmas party yesterday and they were well received.
These are 16 maple Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of a house. The story behind these is as follows. Hurricane Irene hit the east coast in 2011 and it was a pretty destructive storm. We still owned my parents' home at the time and the maple tree in the back yard lost a significantly sized limb. As I cut the limb into manageable logs, something moved me to keep three of them. I brought them home, band sawed them into rough boards and stored them (stickered) in my shed for two years. When a moisture meter indicated the boards were at about 7%, I milled them into finished lumber boards. As you can imagine, the yield was not great (photos #5 and #6) but still, I knew I could make something from them and during the "drying years" I had decided to make a small gift for each of my parents' 16 grandchildren. I kept putting off the project until, this year, I resolved to do it. I have two daughters. I asked both of them, independently, what I might make, given the limited supply of maple. They both suggested a tree ornament.
Knowing how much the grandkids enjoyed family gatherings at the old homestead, I came up with the idea of a house ornament and thought it might be nice to include the house number. I made a template of the house shape from 1/8 inch Baltic birch and cut most of the house shape at the band saw and the numbers at the scroll saw. I ran into a snag when I realized I would lose the center of the zero! Plan B was to use the template for the shape of the house and then temporarily glue printed numbers on the pieces for scroll sawing. To save time and effort I used double stick tape to do the sawing in pairs. I used the disc section of my belt/disc sander to refine the rough cuts as well as some hand sanding and filing. I added a thin piece of maple behind the zero and glued the centers to it. I then sanded that support piece even thinner.
The finish is several coats of spray shellac and a coat of Howard's Feed n Wax.
My siblings and I have fond memories of growing up in that house and our children have similar memories of time spent visiting Nana and Grandpa. With these little ornaments, they will always have a piece or a part of that home to cherish. And, they can pass them on to their children, etc. I presented the ornaments at a family Christmas party yesterday and they were well received.