How to make a timber Christmas tree

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Forget tacky, throwaway plastic Christmas treess. Create your own stylish DIY timber version that will look great, and last years. You only need some scrap wood and a few things. Here’s how:

Tools and materials

180-grit sandpaper

40 x 18mm timber length @ 1.2m

90 x 30mm timber length @ 1.2m

Clamps

Eye protection

Fairy lights

Handsaw

Pencil

Safety gloves

Sanding block

Square

Super glue

Tape measure

Tools and materials needed to build a timber Christmas tree

1. Measure and mark timber lengths

It’s time to use that high school maths! You’re going to need a tape measure and some basic geometry for this bit – we’re creating an isosceles triangle for our base.! Our timber length is 1200mm long, and we’ll need to cut it into three pieces. Cut two lengths at 450mm each and one at 300mm. Take your square and draw a straight line – these will be your cut marks.

Measure lengths of timber with a tape measure and pencil.

2. Cut your timber lengths

After you’ve marked up, grab your clamps and handsaw and cut your timber to size. Make sure you wear safety gloves and eye protection for this bit – those saws are sharp!

Cutting timber to length with a hand saw

3. Outline your tree

Once you’ve cut your lengths, stack them on top of each other in a triangle shape, and mark out the sides of your tree. Lay the 300mm piece along the bottom and the two longer sections in either corner, meeting at the top to form the triangle. The sides of the tree will sit flush inside each other, so take a pencil and mark up where you need to cut. Rule your lines to make sure they are straight. Once you’ve done this, repeat the above step and cut your lengths to size, using a sanding block to smooth the edges once they’re done.

Put pieces of wood and mark up where to saw with a ruler and pencil.

4. Glue your Christmas tree together

Once all the sides are sanded and brushed clean, you’re ready to glue. We’re using No Mess Quick Fix adhesive. This stuff sets like concrete, so be careful when applying. Pop on your protective gloves and apply some glue to the edges, fix together, and hold for a few minutes while the glue binds.

Applying strong glue to pieces of timber

5. Measure your tree base

Grab your wider timber piece and a square and measure 150mm. Use your handsaw to cut the base to size. Once you’ve done this, give it a quick sand to remove any rough edges.

6. Glue base to tree

Once your base is ready, grab your timber tree frame and glue it to the base. Like before, wait a few minutes for the glue to bind, holding in place to assist with adhesion.

Gluing timber triangle to Christmas tree base

6. Decorate your Christmas tree

This is the fun bit! You can decorate your tree any way you like – we chose a decorative star for the top, and wrapped it with battery-operated fairy lights – you can pick these up at Bunnings. But really, anything looks great.

This is an awesome craft project to get the kids involved with – if you’ve got any left-over sample pots of paint, consider painting your tree a fun, festive colour. And why not get creative with sizes? Pairing various sized triangles together in a cluster looks fabulous – have fun! ‘Tis the season, after all!…

Finished Christmas tree with lit up fairy lights

Feeling crafty

We have more Christmas craft ideas to choose from or you can head to your local Bunnings store's craft aisle for inspiration.