Best wood for Steve's 2015 Personalized Christmas Ornaments

[no1texan]

I have ordered several of Steve's 2015 Personalized Christmas Ornaments and in process of "trying" to cut them out. Main problem I am having is selecting the best wood - hardwood. I tried the 1/8" baltic birch plywood for the layered ornament and I find this is too thin. The snowflakes or lettering breaks very easy plus there is a lot of sanding of the "fuze" from the ply.

So I move to about 3/16 using African Mahogany. Seems the hardwoods don't put off so much 'fuze.' However, the letters and numbers still break very easily.

I am going to put the layered patterns aside and do only the wreath ones and go to 1/4. Walnut would be my choice but it is too expensive and the dark does not show up well on a green Christmas tree.

Next choice I guess would be Maple. Is Maple going to be a stronger wood, i.e. will the letters/numbers hold up better, not break so easily? Would hard Maple be any better than soft Maple?

Suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks

[don in brooklin on]

Baltic Birch is not my favorite as I don't like the edges but I did the layered ornaments with 1/8 BB.  I stack cut the bottom 2 layers 5 deep.  With BB I seal both sides with Zinser sanding sealer and then give a light sanding.  I hot glue the layers and then wrap in blue painters tape.  I did not have any break outs.

For the top layer I stack cut 5 deep.  Cut the snowflakes and date but left a square area for the name.  Once I cut them round I glued on each name.  I use blue painters tape and then attached the name on.  I only had one letter break.  My mistake daydreaming.

I then sprayed with gold glitter and assembled.  After I assembled I gave one more coat of glitter to get the edge of the spacers.

I'll post pictures in a separate post. 

Don

[edward]

I do my ornaments on 1/4" oak, like the way they finish, I usually stack cut 2 at a time, could go 3.  just my opinion.  edward

[don in brooklin on]

Here are the picture of my finished ornaments.  I combined last years and this years as I didn't get last years done.



Also, here is the top layer without the name.

[no1texan]

Don, when do you spray with glitter? Do you apply any finish and then spray the glitter? Does the spray come with some kind of adhesive?

Edward - which Oak do you use? Do you do the layered ornaments in 1/4? This means when finished, the overall thickness would be over 3/4"? with the spacers, even greater than 3/4. I have thought about trying this but concerned it may be too thick to hang on a tree?

[no1texan]

Don, how or what do you use to sand the fuze off the BB? Seems to me you can sand so much while the stack pieces are together but once separated, they need bit more.

[don in brooklin on]

I used a FD UR -1 blade and didn't get much to sand.  I check and if any fuzzies I scape with an exacto knife or one of those soft nail files.

As far as Glitter spray, I use the Rustoleum Brand I get at Home Depot.  For 16, I use about 1 1/2 rattle cans.

I tried the Glitter Blast from Michaels but the Rustoleum lasted much longer and it doesn't flake off.  I usually dip in sanding sealer too but not always as the Glitter spray sticks well to bare wood.



don