A great lesson in workflow and efficiency


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On Sunday I started making 3d bandsaw reindeers to sell and raise money to donate to local animal rescues. Codename "Reindeer for Rescues" I posted it on Monday at 1:00am on facebook and on a couple of facebook yardsale sites. By 9am Monday morning I had 4 ordered. I was making them one at a time and finishing them, doing some hand sanding and then rubbing them with tung oil. It was taking me about 20-30 minutes each at first. By 8pm Monday night I had 32 ordered. I managed to make 8 of them on Monday in about 3 hours. I spent about 20 minutes yesterday evening resawing some 8/4 to 5/4, jointing some boards and then ripping and cutting blanks. 

 

Today I took these banks, traced my template onto them and got my time down to 8 minutes 45 seconds each by batching out each process.

 

Do all the template tracing, cut them and stack them and get ready for sanding. Changed the grit on my spindle sander to 50 grit for faster shaping and curve refinement with the 1" spindle, got all the reindeer shaped, switch to the .5" spindle and clean up the tighter spots. Next up is the disc sander to sand the feet flat, antlers flat. Next I took my ETS 150/3 and sanded the backs of the reindeer, and then smoothed out the 50 grit sanding marks with 150 grit (I know it's a huge jump, but it worked very well, that ETS 150 is a beast) Next up was to hit them with compressed air to get any dust off of them. Line em up and rub them with tung oil.

 

Props to Fretless Llama for some help and guidance with this. 

 

I'm happy to say that I've raised over $650 to donate to 2 different animal rescues. It's nice to do something you love for something you love. 

 

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Nice work, and for a good cause! You cut those from 5/4 stock?

 

WTN, I have a bunch of 8/4 cherry and 8/4 walnut. I resawed it to 5/4 and then ripped them to 2 inch widths and 6 inches long. I'm impressed with the Timberwolf resaw blade I bought. 3/4 skip tooth 3/4" blade. Tore through the wood like a hot knife through butter with a surprisingly good finish.

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They will take over your house and your friends houses if you're not careful. ;)

I still have a few around my house. I have my first one, and a couple along the way.

Truly a great cause. As an animal lover I have a lot of respect for what you are doing.

Not that you need it, but I'll help however I can.

Enjoy the herd. :)

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I am on the board of directors of our local humane society, and I can tell you from pretty much direct experience that every dollar helps, so from one animal lover to another, thank you!  this is such a good idea that I may try to do something similar. I've been trying to find some way that I can turn my hobby into some sort of fundraising activity, though... my own workflow (what passes for it) doesn't come close to matching yours.  

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Is there a free pattern available for these somewhere?  My MIL would love one.  Think I can manage to find 8 minutes 45 seconds. :)

 

Eric, 

 

Just do a google image search for Bandsaw Reindeer, there are tons of free patterns and all different types. I chose that one as it's the most abstract and appealing to people. There are more intricate ones that would require entirely too much hand sanding and finer work to do. Because I'm nuts, I don't print out my patterns, I measure them with a ruler on my screen, tape a piece of paper to the screen and trace the pattern, because I know it's the right size for my work without making adjustments and reprinting. 

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I am on the board of directors of our local humane society, and I can tell you from pretty much direct experience that every dollar helps, so from one animal lover to another, thank you!  this is such a good idea that I may try to do something similar. I've been trying to find some way that I can turn my hobby into some sort of fundraising activity, though... my own workflow (what passes for it) doesn't come close to matching yours.  

 

STB, 

 

My workflow was flawed as could be, however I always look at the best way to make things more efficient. Preparation is king. Have stations set for each task so you're not changing tool settings for each piece. If you need any help, feel free to message me and I'll help you any way I can.

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STB, 

 

My workflow was flawed as could be, however I always look at the best way to make things more efficient. Preparation is king. Have stations set for each task so you're not changing tool settings for each piece. If you need any help, feel free to message me and I'll help you any way I can.

well, no bandsaw here so sadly, no bandsaw reindeer.  i may crank out other things (square things, preferably) for the shelter soon but at the moment I am up to my ears in other aspects of my work for them.  I am starting to get pretty good at cutting boards though (lol), so maybe there is a future there and I can envision a couple different ways to batch those babies out.  I mostly just wanted to send some heartfelt props your way, it's great work and even better, for a great cause, so I'll be sure to raise a glass in your honor very soon (probably after work lol). 

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