Redwood Reindeer

It had been a long time since I'd worked in my shop, and I was looking for a quick project to work on today. I found a plan* for this reindeer in an email newsletter from Woodworkers Guild of America, and Cynthia just happened to look over my shoulder while I was trying to decide whether to make one -- or a few. She said she'd like to have a couple, so off I went to the shop.

Now that I have the templates for marking the blocks, and have warmed up on the first one, it should only take a few minutes to cut each of the others on my bandsaw. Sanding takes longer, but the oscillating spindler sander (latest tool acquisition) speeds it up a lot.

I slapped a quick coat of polyurethane on for the photo -- I'll probably put on a couple more coats later. I used redwood left over from a picnic set I made about forty years ago -- the same stock I used for three more recent benches.

* The linked page has a very short video showing the whole process -- it's compressed to just over a minute!