Angel ornaments for your holiday tree

Many woodworkers start their workshop careers at the scrollsaw. In many ways it's the ideal starter tool: it's a quiet, relatively safe tool that doesn't require expensive wood to make great projects with. I made this ornament out of scrap wood I had lying around my shop—the best stock for learning and making mistakes. This Christmas ornament is the perfect project to hone your workshop skills in time to thrill your family. Feel free to alter the design.

Besides making sure your blade is sharp and properly attached, there isn't much else to setting up a scrollsaw. Usually, the finer the pattern, the thinner the blade required. I used a #2 fine blade for this project.

Technique
The first step is choosing your wood. I picked 1/8"-thick Baltic birch plywood, but any stock will do as long as it's reasonably thick. With wood in hand, decide on a cutting pattern. If you're new to scrollsawing, begin with a cookie-cutter approach: simply cut an outline along a pencil line as if you're sewing a thread around a piece of fabric on a sewing machine. Cut several pieces at once by stacking pieces of wood on top of each other. To do this, temporarily stick them together using double-sided tape strong enough to hold the pieces together so they don't slide when you're cutting them. Before taping, sand all sides of the wood with fine sandpaper.

* Click here for a project plan illustration.

Next, take your design drawing (scale it to full size) and attach it to the top piece of wood with spray or rubber cement. Then it's simply a matter of following the line. Take your time. The slower you go, the less likely you'll make a mistake. It doesn't matter where you start. I tend to push the wood through clockwise because I'm right-handed and find it more comfortable.