# Christmas Ornaments



## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

Here are some pics of my latest project. I got the idea from some ornaments I saw at a woodworking show a year ago.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Exquisite. 






.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Very nice Ken! How long are they?


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## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

See correction below



Mizer said:


> Very nice Ken! How long are they?


About 6" long. My first batch I made blanks for 8 of them. I just completed the glue-up for 16 more. Now it's time to make some wood chips!!!


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## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

Ok, they are actually about 7 1/2" long. Here is a pic next to a tape measure for those of you who want feature dimensions. Also, they are made with 1/2" thick laminations. I did the final glue up with some awesome clamps I bought from Rockler for edge gluing tabletops. You just had to jeep your wits about you as to when not to glue so you didn't end up with one solid block. :laughing:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Even the one solid block would make a might fine cutting board. Very nice ornaments. I really like the shape and the contrasting woods. Great job.


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## Jeff4woodturning (Feb 1, 2009)

very nice Ken, would like to see a tree cover with those ornaments.


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Beautiful work Ken. I was a bit curious about how you laminated the blanks but I can figure that out from your last pic. What woods are they?

A bit out of this topic, but I was interested by your clamps. There is a modern variant of these that I have wanted for a long time (Plano clamps) but I have never been able to afford them. The great thing about them (and yours, I belive) is that they just don´t apply pressure on the edges but also on the faces which prevent the board from cupping. Yours look like something one could make oneself. Is it possible with a few pictures of them?


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## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

Longknife said:


> Beautiful work Ken. I was a bit curious about how you laminated the blanks but I can figure that out from your last pic. What woods are they?
> 
> A bit out of this topic, but I was interested by your clamps. There is a modern variant of these that I have wanted for a long time (Plano clamps) but I have never been able to afford them. The great thing about them (and yours, I belive) is that they just don´t apply pressure on the edges but also on the faces which prevent the board from cupping. Yours look like something one could make oneself. Is it possible with a few pictures of them?


To laminate the blanks (made of maple and walnut) I planed my stock to 1/2" thick and made sure I had a quantity of each that was divisible by 3. Then I glued up 3-ply laminations of walnut-maple-walnut and maple-walnut-maple. After the glue dried I cut these laminations into slices 5/8" thick on the table saw and planed them down to 1/2" thick. Then I alternated them in a checkerboard pattern and glued them in my pannel clamps as you see. The great part about using the pannel clamps rather than just c-clamps it is perfectly alligned the seams between the laminations into a perfect checkerboard which gives a better final product.

As far as the clamps go here is a link to the clamps on Rockler. You purchase the clamp mechanism and make the wooden bars yourself to whatever length you need. They are definately affordable and worth their weight in gold. I hope this was helpful to anyone wanting to make some.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10711&filter=bar clamp


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## Ken Johnson (Nov 8, 2007)

Jeff4woodturning said:


> very nice Ken, would like to see a tree cover with those ornaments.


That is my goal for next year. I'm planning on giving most away as presents this year so I'll have to make more after Christmas for my own tree next year.


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## Bob Willing (Jul 4, 2008)

Ken great job on the Christmas Ornaments and great job laminating. That is my favorite way to make blanks for turning. The walnut and maple really add a lot of class to the turnings.:thumbsup:


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## Gunner4912 (Oct 21, 2010)

Ken Johnson said:


> Here are some pics of my latest project. I got the idea from some ornaments I saw at a woodworking show a year ago.


 Outstanding


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