Mike's Woodworking Projects

Crafts for my Parents

Year built: 1980s
Plan: My Parent's Design

My parents were very much into crafts which they made and then sold at craft fairs. It was a small business for them as they made a fair amount of money at the fairs. Eventually, it became a family project.

One of their big sellers for years was a simple Christmas tree made of 1x pine and painted green that sat on an oval base that was stained. The unique part of the craft was my Mother's painting of little tiny ornaments for the tree and the base. Then, at the fair, people would pick out the ornaments they wanted and my parents wrote the names of family members on the ornaments and hot gluing them onto the tree making it a very nice family Christmas decoration.

I really wish I had a picture of one but, I unfortunately, I don't. They were clever and very popular.

Since I had started getting into woodworking, I offered to cut out the blanks for the tree and the base for a small fee. They sent me plastic profiles of the tree and base.

I would go to the lumber yard and (since I am cheap) I would pick through mountains of STD pine boards to select ones that were acceptable, and I

would layout the blanks avoiding the knots and the other imperfections.

First I cut the tree blanks on the table saw to the angled shape of the tree. Then I would cut the tree branches using a table top scroll saw. I used the scroll saw to cut the oval bases too. Then, I used a 1" belt sander to sand everything smooth.... tedious.

Then, I would pack up a box full of them and ship them to my parents in Milwaukee (we were living in MN at the time). My sisters got in on the craft by doing some of the painting and staining too.

I remember getting up at 4am and heading out to the garage to cut trees before I went to work at Unisys at 7am. I do tend do be compulsive at times.

I really liked enjoyed it and got pretty efficient at it. My parents sold hundreds of them at the fairs so, it was a big project in the fall. I made enough money to buy several of my next woodworking tools (band saw, jointer, etc.) so I felt it was both fun and paid for my new found hobby of woodworking.

Really wish I had a picture to show the trees.