The Xmas tree challenge

[Benjimin Young]

Here is a challenge for those who celebrate Christmas and also put up a real tree. Scratch that, the challenge goes out to anybody with a creative mind.

Instead of burning or burying the dead tree at the end of the year, what unique and creative woodworking projects can be done with it? Hint, involve the whole family in a brainstorm session.

If the group comes up with some good ideas, perhaps we can share the compiled results with the world and give something small back to the environment. This could be fun, productive and a win-win for everyone. Moderator, what do you think?

Now if only I had a good project idea to kick this off with... hmmm

Ben
:rolleyes:

Ben

[Mack Cameron]

An idea I read about sometime ago, was to cut an appropriate length from the tree each year and turn (on a lathe) it into a tree decoration for next year. Of course you would put the year of the tree etc on that decoration.
Of course, you still have a lot of tree to dispose of.

[Joe Pelonio]

Boring as it seems, we usually make a small donation to the local scouts who collect them as their major fundraising event for the year. I have heard that they are good to throw into a big pond or small lake with a weight to anchor them as a fish breeding area. I suppose you could carve them into walking sticks.

[Lee Schierer]

The City of Erie, PA collects trees from the street after the holiday, takes them to a central facility where they are shredded into compost. They then use the compost on the gardens and plantings on city property.

We recycle our "fake Tree" back intot he box and use it again next year. We've been doing that for over 10 years on teh same tree.

When we used to get real trees we would get live ones with the roots attached and recycle them to the yard after the short stay in the house. The one in the front yard is now over 30 feet tall. It still gets decorated from an 8' step ladder with a very long pole.

[Randy Meijer]

Cut the trunk into 12-18" sections and drill holes in it.....one inch or thereabouts. Fill with peanutbutter/sunflower seed mix or suet and use as a bird feeder. Probably need to put a few perches on it unless you can leave bits of the existing branches to serve as perches.

[Andy Hoyt]

Move to Springfield, Vermont!

Back when we were there, you could take your tree down to the high school after the holidays and trade it in for a whole sleeve of Ben & Jerry's.

Gives a whole new meaning to the definition of recycling.

[Michael Morgan]

Our tradition is not really woodworking related but it is creative. Each year on New Years Eve the tree goes out side where it is decorated again but this time with around 10,000 firecrackers and hundreds of other explosives item's. Then you put a small amount of diesel fuel in the stand and when it's about 5 seconds to midnight I lite the fuel and get back, way back! It is a most impressive display. The only downside is that i have to get a new Christmas tree stand each year:rolleyes: