NOVEMBER 2016 Project of the Month - The Dancing Christmas Tree!

Hello,

The kids are going to love this Dancing Christmas Tree novelty item during the holiday season (the adults will too)! A gentle swing of the pendulum causes the Christmas Tree to shake, shimmy and dance over the Snowflake-shaped base, seemingly under its own power!

The project uses just the 1/16" Carving Bit and the 1/8" Cutting Bit. No other bits are required.

The finished dimensions are about:5" wide x 7" deep x 11" tall.

Main items you will need:

1) The Project Files (included):

• Cane-and-Snowflake.mpc
• Tree_Base_Cane.mpc

2) Boards with the following dimensions:

Cane-and- Snowflake: 0.5" x 5.5" x 24"
Tree_Base_Cane: 0.5" x 5.5" x 24"

NOTE: Do not use boards that are smaller than specified above unless using an appropriate jig. Larger boards are fine.

3) Two small screw eyes, 0.25" dia. dowel, seven 6mm x 3mm neodymium magnets (approx .25" dia. x .125" thick )

4) Quick-set epoxy, wood glue, clamps, sandpaper, stain and/or paint and clear finish

5) Suggested additional tools:
Pin nailer and drill or drill press, a belt or disc sander, Dremel-type rotary tool with assorted sanding wheels and bits to sand small details and speed up preparation for finishing.

Apply your choice of finish. Here’s what I used on my Dancing Christmas Tree sample made from Select Pine.

Snowflake:
• Two coats of thinned Zinsser Bulls Eye Seal Coat
(50% denatured alcohol and 50% Seal Coat), sanding after each coat
• Several coats of gloss Krylon Clear Acrylic spray

Base:
• Applied Rust-Oleum Cabernet stain (except glue area)
• Several coats of gloss Krylon Clear Acrylic spray

Cane:
• Wrapped painter’s tape around cane
• Applied several coats of gloss Krylon Clear Acrylic spray to seal the exposed wood very well
• Removed tape, then applied Rust-Oleum Cabernet stain and wiped off excess to yield “candy stripes”
• Several coats of gloss Krylon Clear Acrylic spray

Tree:
• Applied green and white acrylic craft paints
• Several coats of gloss Krylon Clear Acrylic spray

Looks like it will be a great project.

Super creative. Very nice.

Thanks! You can watch a video of the Dancing Tree in action by visiting the CarveBuddy Facebook page (link is in my signature below), or watch it at the following YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHn2vlDThw

Very Clever! Another winner! Great job matching the music in the video! Thanks Michael!

What a great project, and very different from the usual CW projects!

Thank you!