Oh Christmas Tree

This is the seven-day countdown for the release of my Bedford County Christmas novella Tangles and Tinsel. Each day, I will be sharing a DIY Christmas project or décor. At the end of each post, there is a link to sign up for a chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card. If you sign up every day, you get seven chances!

This upcoming release was the perfect opportunity to try a new Christmas crafting project. I love working with wood, and especially when the supplies are cheap or free. This particular project took one large and one small pallet that didn’t cost us anything. The 2 x 4’s we used for the trunks and stands were left over from other building projects, and the stain was inexpensive. The hardest part of this one was taking the pallets apart.

To cut the angle on the boards for the tree, we used a DeWalt miter saw, but a regular saw and miter box will work, too—it’ll just take a little more time. We didn’t bother sanding the wood, but if you prefer your trees to be smoother, a palm sander would take care of that quickly. Our palm sander is a DeWalt. Do you see a pattern here?

After we cut the boards for the first tree, my sister-in-law Diane (oops, I forgot to introduce her in the video), and I used them as a template for the rest of the trees. If you’re strategic about how you lay out the pieces, the wood will go a lot farther than you’d expect. I thought we might get three trees out of what we had, but we actually got five.

One thing I didn’t show was after cutting the top of the trunk (Diane shows how we got the angle in the video), we then stained the raw wood left from the cuts.

What you’ll need for this project:

Pallets (or slats made from 1 x 4’s)

2 x 4’s—enough for your trunk and four 16” pieces for the stand

A miter saw or miter box and regular saw for the 45-degree angle cuts

Wood screws—two for each board and eight for each stand

Stain for the pallet boards—we used Home Depot’s Behr sampler of semi-transparent ponderosa pine

Stain for the trunk and stand—we used Home Depot’s Behr sampler of semi-transparent russet and left over Minwax red oak

Our trees were about 42” tall with seven levels of boards. The taller the tree, the more boards you might need. It really depends on your personal preference.

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