Every family tree has a few ornaments that matter more than the rest. Often they're the plain ones: a little wooden star with a year on the back, or a painted block somebody made in a garage. If you have a scrap bin, you have a whole box of ornaments waiting to be made.
A little history
Wooden Christmas decorations go back a long way. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage tells how miners in Germany's Erzgebirge mountains turned to woodcarving as the mines declined. Their workshops made nutcrackers (from about 1850), smoking men (from about 1830), candle arches, pyramids, and other Christmas pieces still sold today.
In America, the Library of Congress notes that the German custom of a decorated Christmas tree was introduced by the Pennsylvania Dutch in Lancaster in 1821. For generations after that, plenty of the decorations on American trees were made at home.
Before you start
- Cut small pieces safely. Cut ornament shapes from a longer board, then cut them free, so your fingers stay well away from the blade. Use a push stick or a hold-down.
- Scroll saw basics from OSHA: keep the blade guard in place, use a hold-down, turn the work slowly through curves, keep blades sharp, wear eye protection, and keep loose sleeves and hair back.
- Hangers: drill a 1/8 inch hole about 3/8 inch from the top edge and loop twine, ribbon, or a small screw eye.
- Finish: a light spray of clear finish keeps them clean for years. Let it dry well before packing them away.
1. Little trees from a 1x4
A 1x4 is actually 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches. Draw a triangle 3 1/2 inches across the bottom and 4 inches tall. Flip the next triangle upside down beside it, and you get trees with almost no waste. Sand the edges, then leave them natural or paint them green and add a dot of yellow paint for a star.
2. Branch slices
Cut a straight, dry branch about 2 to 3 inches across into slices 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Sand the faces smooth and drill a hanger hole near the bark edge.
Wood shrinks as it dries, and drying too fast is what makes slices split. Oregon State University Extension explains that wood keeps moving until it reaches the moisture level of the room around it. Let fresh slices dry slowly, at room temperature, away from the stove, and expect a few to crack anyway. Small cracks look rustic.
One caution: the University of Minnesota Extension says insects can ride into the house in untreated wood and decorative items and come out later. Use branches that have been cut and dry for a while, and check the slices before they go on the tree.
3. Block snowmen from a 2x2
A 2x2 is actually 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Cut blocks 3 inches long. Paint them white, add two dots for eyes and an orange dot for a nose, and glue a strip of fabric around the "neck" for a scarf. A small screw eye in the top makes the hanger. One 2 foot 2x2 makes about seven snowmen.
4. Scroll saw stars and hearts
Use thin scrap about 1/4 inch thick. Trace a star, heart, or snowflake about 3 to 4 inches across. Cut slowly and let the blade do the work. Thin plywood is fine to cut and paint, but don't wood burn it; the glue between the layers gives off harmful fumes.
5. Wood burned rounds
Basswood rounds or your own branch slices make perfect wood burning blanks. Burn a simple tree, a snowflake, a name, or the year. Our beginner wood burning guide walks through the tool and the first steps.
6. The keepsake trick
Whatever you make, turn it over and write or burn the name and the year on the back. A plain wooden tree becomes "Emma, 2026," and twenty years from now it will be the one everyone looks for in the box.
Make a batch
Ornaments are perfect for an assembly line. Cut all your shapes one evening, sand them the next, and paint them on a weekend with the grandkids. A dozen wooden ornaments in a box with tissue paper is a gift people keep for decades.
Grandpa might have whittled a star with a pocketknife on the porch. You can still do that. A scroll saw and a can of clear finish just mean you can make enough for the whole family by Christmas.