Knotted Tree Table

This little table is made from the trunks of two old Christmas trees, along with some scrap wood.

The trunk/pedestal of the table is tied in a knot. This was done by cutting the two trees up into many pieces, and then reconnecting them into a more interesting form. The trunk is only fastened to itself inline--meaning the sides of the trunk that pass near each other are not connected in anyway (nor do they touch).

This was an interesting experiment in woodworking, and the method used for making this is actually quite simple.

Thanks for taking a look.

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Old Christmas trees

Every year when the holidays are over, I trim the branches off of my used Christmas tree and keep the trunk so I can reuse it to make something later. A couple of years ago I made this Christmas Tree Didgeridoo.

I have a small stockpile of (mostly) dried Christmas tree trunks from which I chose two of the same species for this project. However, any relatively straight piece of tree branch or small tree would work.

clydeart says: Jan 23, 2013. 10:30 PM

Very, Very Creative! I like the "art" that you added to the "craft" in this project. Very nice idea! You are on the same page I am - making useful items out of recycled and reclaimed wood!

seamster (author) in reply to clydeartJan 24, 2013. 8:01 AM

Thank you! I really enjoyed making this little table, and was happy with how it turned out.

joshme says: Jan 13, 2013. 2:51 PM

This is great! I just sawed the stumps off of two Christmas trees my neighbors were throwing away. One thing I noticed was that there is tons of sap - did you have this problem, or any recommendations to deal with the sticky sap?

seamster (author) in reply to joshmeJan 13, 2013. 8:17 PM

Yes, there's always lots of sap! It can be pretty messy depending on the species of the tree. I don't have any secrets to working with sappy trees... wear rubber gloves maybe?

What are you planning on making? I'm still trying to figure out what to make out of my tree from this last Christmas.

150

l8nite says: Mar 10, 2012. 7:27 PM

at first I thought great use for a really cool branch but you created it ! AWESOME

kklco says: Mar 8, 2012. 7:20 AM

Beautiful table! It has a great organic feel to it, and I love that you used recycled materials for most of it!

seamster (author) in reply to kklcoMar 8, 2012. 8:36 AM

Thank you very much! I enjoyed making it and love the way it turned out. I'm actually working on a couple more items using the same technique and materials, so I may post some info on these soon as well.

Kryptonite says: Mar 7, 2012. 5:35 PM

I absolutely love Instructables that not only make me think 'Wow, what a smart / neat / amazing idea!' when I first read the introduction, but make me wonder how on Earth it was done. There are lots of great ideas on this site, though when I can't quite see how the idea was turned into a build I'm blown away.

This is a perfect example of this.

It looks genius, I must say. How clearly do those joins come up? They look fairly inconspicuous in the images.

Keep it up!

seamster (author) in reply to KryptoniteMar 7, 2012. 9:38 PM

Thanks!

The joints were pretty close on all of the pieces. There were a few spots where one piece was slightly bigger than the next or would overhang just a bit, and I sanded those down with my dremel and a sanding attachment. There were only a couple these spots though. Thanks again, I'm glad you liked it.

benq says: Mar 7, 2012. 5:56 PM

looks cool but i think it would look better if the branch was debarked

rimar2000 says: Mar 6, 2012. 8:48 AM

Very clever, thanks for sharing!

Topcat2021 says: Mar 6, 2012. 6:07 AM

That Sir is a nice job the construction of the tree trunk base isn't something that I would have though about ingenious creativity and a good looking table to boot.
Keep up the good work
Dan