Saw yourself a forest of holiday cheer
Even if you don’t have room for a full-size Christmas tree, there is bound to be a place for one of these miniatures. Or make a forest’s worth, one for everybody on your gift list. These festive Yuletide trees are at least as much fun to make as they are to share. Use our patterns, or modify the shape of the branches as you see fit. Now clean off your dusty, old scroll saw and get to it.
15 branches on a tiered trunk
Cut from 1/8” Baltic birch plywood, slots in the branches slip over the stepped trunk to form the basic shape while the notched base serves to hold the tree upright. Spray paint and map pins add visual appeal. To make smaller trees, see onlineEXTRAS for a bonus pattern or simply eliminate branches from the bottom of this pattern and cut the trunk shorter.
Cut, shape, and assemble
Make two copies of the patterns and adhere them to the plywood with spray adhesive. Cut out the parts as well as the interior slots on the branches. If necessary, file the notches to fit. Spray paint the parts separately, before adding map pin ornaments and gluing the branches and base. Top the tree with a star CA-glued to each side of the trunk.
Saw the parts. Cut out all the parts. On the smaller branches and tree toppers, you may want to leave a handle to keep your fingers well clear of the blade. Saw this off at the very end.
Fine tune the fit. Borrowing from the jewelers’ toolkit, make a bench pin with a birds mouth cut to support the pieces as you file the slots to fit.
Clip and assemble. Clip the map pins to about 1⁄8” long and squeeze them into the ends of the branches with a pair of soft-jawed pliers. Then fit the branches to the trunk and adhere them with CA glue.
