WOODEN SANTA PULLING SLED OF PRESENTS
making santa real
I was introduced to this character, or one like it on a routine inspiration search through the various websites pertaining to crafts and the like. When you find something that looks interesting to make and is in your wheel house, then yo just have to give it a go. This Santa is pictured towing a sled full of presents behind him, but the very first thing to task was the head and hat. This then allowed me to size up the rest of the project and give him life. Without the correct sizing, he just wouldn’t look right. The head would be cut at a slight angle and is long enough with a taper to look like a beard, the hat I took to look like an old flat tea cosy, these two items simply glued together in the end. These were both initially cut on the lathe and then dressed on the bandsaw.
the body and bag
The body of Santa was again turned on the lathe and then the angle for the head to attach to was cut on the bandsaw. This was there to look like the chest and shoulders and give weight to the overall design. These two items were also just glued together due to being an indoor item, but if you wanted to size this up or place outside, fitting retaining dowels to strengthen wouldn’t be an issue. Santa’s Bag was made from the same beech stock as the head, this was turned on the lathe initially, cut using the bandsaw and then finished of carving using some hand carving tools. The wire seen in the above picture was only there to hold the bag in place whilst the glue dried, this would be replaced with string later. All items so far had been sanded to around 400grit.
the features and feet
The features for Santa are fairly simply in the fact that there are none to worry about. The nose is the only item shown as the others are really not required to get the overall effect and know who he is. The nose is simply a piece of turned dowel and then hand carved to fit into the head, this is glued in place as with everything else so far, with wood glue. The feet on the other hand are a little more tricky as you need to shape them to look sized correctly, but not so much that there isn’t enough material left over to hold the weight or become fragile. This is a large dowel turned using lathe and then split down middle using the bandsaw, there is then a hole drilled to receive the dowel used for the legs, all of which was done by eye for the first off whilst I sized up what looked best.
overall size, the sled, the presents
Overall the size of this project was about 5” (125mm) in height, about 2.5” (63mm) wide, with the sled measuring 2.5” (63mm) High (including presents) and 1.5” (38mm) wide. The Sled was a piece of waste from cutting Santas body and the presents were waste from cutting the other parts. Shaping of the sled was completed using the bandsaw and a little rasp work, and obviously sanding also. the presents were all cut on the bandsaw, sanded using a 300mm bench disc sander and then coloured with wood dyes using a cotton bud (cue tip).
the finished item and conclusion of project
With everything that had to be done for this project, this actually worked out quite labour intensive. There was a lot of measuring and prototyping, I had to make a cutting jig for the bandsaw to allow me to cut a repeatable angle on both the head and body. And then there was all the fine cutting and detailing for the other more intricate parts and sled. It was one of the more fun projects I have done with all the redesigning, sizing, reverse engineering that went on. The coloured dyes worked well and although colourful, did not detract or overtake from the overall aesthetic. It finished up being a nicely muted shine on the externals too, with little to no maintenance required in the years to come. I would happily make more of these, but I would give myself just a tad more time to get the piece repeatable all the way through the design. As it is, this one has gone to a wonderful home as a gift for the parents of my partner. It is truly loved.