Any fun to be had with leftover Christmas trees?

[Matt Meadows]

Ok so obviously there will be a ton of dead trees everywhere.

I know turning the trunk can result in cracked pith and most Christmas trees aren't even close to big enough to split in half to cut out the pith.

Seems to me like one with lots of branches could make interesting end grain lidded boxes if you make the cracked pith a feature, or if you drill it out and plug with a complimentary wood.

 

[Richard Coers]

A good trunk from a Christmas tree has about 6 growth rings in it from the incredibly fast growth, and really boring color. I made a bandsawn box one time with all the bark on it. I'll have to see if it's still around here someplace.

 

[Gary Beasley]

You could always make a bunch of gnomes from the tree.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

In Seattle on New Years day we take our trees to one of the salt water beaches and have a giant fire. Then we go for a swim or more likely just wade in up to our neck. After a few minutes in the water that fire feels good.

 

[John Walls]

Around here they get dumped on the ice, come spring, they sink to become small islands of pine for the fish to hide in.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

You could try something like this made from a eastern white pine branch maybe but I would say that the beach fire is the best use, as long as it is not an artificial tree.

 

[Matt Meadows]

Well I do live 30 minutes from the beach lol. Around here a lot of them become brush piles for crappie and shell cracker too.

I appreciate the help here gents. If we end up doing a real tree I may let the kids chuck it up and make ornaments, a little food coloring and lacquer spray for some character

 

[R Henrickson]

For several years I carefully saved the trunks of my Fraser fir Christmas trees. A long time later, I cut off a chunk to turn a Christmas tree. Wonderful -- AWFUL -- threads or streamers of pitch started flying in all directions. I stopped, took it off the lathe, and pitched it and all the trunks into the recycling. It was a mess to clean up, after just a couple minutes. Nice idea, but never again for me. Maybe some other species?

 

[Dean Center]

One year LONG before Rudy Lopez popularized natural edge goblets, one of our 'special' students in the after-school wood club was hooked on making goblets. In January, the wood he brought to make them with was the base of his recently tossed out Christmas tree. I was skeptical, especially since he was determined to make them with scrapers, but darned if he didn't come up with a couple, and they were actually pretty nice. Each one took about 6 weeks of once a week club, and as a result the shop smelled like Christmas for 3 months.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

One year LONG before Rudy Lopez popularized natural edge goblets, one of our 'special' students in the after-school wood club was hooked on making goblets. In January, the wood he brought to make them with was the base of his recently tossed out Christmas tree. I was skeptical, especially since he was determined to make them with scrapers, but darned if he didn't come up with a couple, and they were actually pretty nice. Each one took about 6 weeks of once a week club, and as a result the shop smelled like Christmas for 3 months.

In the fall of1989 I went to my first pro demo with Del Stubs shortly after joining the Minnesota Woodturners Association. Del used all of the techniques that have come to be standard for making natural edge with the bark on goblets including finishing the inside first, using a light to gauge thickness when turning the outside, his version of burred scraper he called shear scrapping (that was the first time I ever heard of using a burred scraper on wood turning) and all of the various techniques involved. Del never used anything to support the cup at the tailstock end, because it isn't needed, whereas the one or 2 videos by Rudy Lopez that I viewed did use tailstock support. The 1992 symposium in Provo Utah, which I went too, Allen Lacer displayed what he called a twisted goblet, which was made using Del Stubs techniques. I still make them occasionally and in the past I have demoed the process at MWA, Minndak, Dakota Woodturners spring symposium meetings, Minnesota Lakes Woodturners ( my current club) and various other occasions, but no videos. I have in the past posted a written text on my techniques in this forum. The woods that I have successfully turned goblets from all from small trees with the pith included includes black & pin cherry, ash, poplar, walnut, birch, red & white oak, maple, buckthorn, juniper, white, red & jack pine, american hornbeam (the local version of iron wood), plum and alder brush (very soft & challenging).

This one is a wood I missed mentioning lilac and it also shows the under cut on the base, which is necessary to make the base thin enough to distort rather then split like the waste block. Note the base was completely cut off while gently holding the stem.

 

[Donald Pratt]

A gentleman in my club (San Diego Woodturners) uses the trunks to make snowman and Christmas tree decorations. I didn’t get any pictures of the snowmen, but you can see them in our newsletter: https://sdwt.org/wood//wp-content/uploads/newsletters/NL2023/SDWTNL202308.pdf .
Here’s one of the little Christmas trees he makes:

 

[Alan Heffernan]

Doesn't the resinous wood gum up and dull tools? I hate to handle the trees due to the nasty resin they put out.

 

[Perry Hilbert]

When I was a very youngin, in Bethlehem PA, mid 1950's, there was a guy up the street who would go along the street cutting slices off the trees people through out. The next December he would present them with a hand carved, relief carved ornament from the prior years' tree. My parents had 5 or 6 before we moved out of the neighborhood. I remember that the old man and my grandfathers talked in Pa Dutch to each other. When i went to a Christmas Market in Jim thorp, PA, a vendor was making scroll sawn ornaments from slices of Christmas tree trunks from the prior year. Looked like a mess with all the sap in some of them though

 

[Rick Moreton]

When I started I saved my tree trunks and made a little rustic turned tree. No cracks at all, maybe I was lucky. This one is maybe 7 inches tall. Unfortunately I have developed a sensitivity to pine and haven't tried turning them again in a while.