How to Improve Your New Christmas Tree With the Old One!

Is your tree still in your back garden looking sad. You know you should get rid of him but can't quite bring yourself to finally send him to tree heaven. Well heres a way he/she can live on forever bringing Christmas cheer to the branches of its offspring. By performing a minimum of surgery you can transform your old tree into attractive, tasteful and new Christmas tree decorations!

This Instructable is being entered into the holiday decorations contest so if you enjoyed it please vote for it.

Step 1: You Will Need....

You are going to need : a saw, a drill with a sensible drill bit (2mm to 10mm would work), some sandpaper, a little ribbon and an old Christmas tree trunk. If you are reading this now chances are you don't have an old Christmas tree sitting around but it wont be long and this is a great activity to do when you are board of all your prezzies. On the down side you only get to use these decorations next Christmas, talk about long term commitment!

Step 2: Cutting

You need to use your saw to cut the trunk into discs. There is no secret to this, it's very tiring. If you have power tools use them (safely, glasses, gloves etc) but if you don't, or if your like me and are terrified of your crazy circular saw just slog away. The discs look better thinner. the bigger your new tree the fatter the discs you can get away with. It is a good idea to cut away a bit at the very bottom of the tree as the inside is often uneven/ dicoloured.

Step 3: Drilling and Sanding

Make a hole near the top of your disc about 5mm in depending on the size of the hole you are making (trust me after all that cutting you don't want to be splitting it now!). After you have drilled the hole sand the whole disc down using your sandpaper. If it hasn't come off when sawing leave the bark rough, this makes a nice contrast.

Step 4: Decorating and Modifications

Thread a piece of festive collared ribbon through the hole and tie it in a loop ready for hanging. Unfortunately my camera isn't very good and doesn't quite do the wood texture/colour justice but if your thinking that it is a little understated things to try are:
1)before cutting spray the trunk with gold paint
2) when cutting count at an angle along the trunk rather than straight down into it (like they do with cucumber in some restaurants) to make the disc greatly elongated
3)cut them into snowflake shapes

Another nice thing to do with small children or fun adults is to have a disc painting competition so all your discs have festive scenes/pictures on them. Its really up to you!

I apologise for not actually showing them on the new tree as I dont have one yet. You will just have to belive me when i say they look good! Comments are appreciated, please vote for this if you liked it.

Merry Christmas every one! jokerlz