Tree trunks are far too good to burn or throw away. They can be used to create versatile objects that beautify the house and garden. Wood is an ideal natural material that is also suitable for everyday objects. With the right pretreatment, tree stumps last longer.
Building furniture from tree trunks
Tree trunks can be beautified with just a few resources and a little creativity. They are ideal for designing furniture and furnishings. Wood is robust and, with the appropriate preparation, extremely durable. The annual rings, which are visible in the cross section, make each piece unique and give the apartment a rustic character. This is why images of tree slices can also be found on seat cushions or carpets.
Make a tree trunk table yourself
You can use slices of a tree trunk to build a spacious dining table or you can use a tree stump as a side table. Stumps are easier to obtain because they are produced during logging operations. Large table tops are more difficult to organize. Since the demand here is not that great, you should look for suitable material in second-hand shops, flea markets or eBay. No matter whether the table should be round, oval or shapeless - there are no limits to your imagination when it comes to implementing it.
These materials are suitable for wooden tables:
- Living room table: Tree slice makes an attractive coffee table, protected by a glass top
- Bedside table: simple tree stump with a flat surface
- Dining room table: elongated solid wood top with sealing
Beautiful furniture can be made from tree trunks
Creative lamps
Tree trunks can be used to create floor lamps, lanterns or individual lighting for indoor and outdoor use. Any type of wood is suitable for this. However, softwood is easier to work with than hardwood. You can use trunks with cracks and cracks as building material, as these will later serve as light slits.
This is how the lamp is made:
- draw a square on the bottom surface
- Prick diagonally along the marking with a sharp edge
- Cut out lines with a jigsaw to create a pyramid-shaped depression
- Sawing lighting slots around the trunk
- Install light element in the recess
Original seating
Tree stumps are ideal for creating a seating area. They can be converted into chairs in their natural state. If you have various sawing tools at your disposal, you can create a rustic and solid garden bench from a tree trunk. A seat is cut into the trunk for the wooden bench. Alternatively, you can build the bench from two wooden panels and attach it to smaller stumps. A bench like this creates a rustic atmosphere in the garden.
Stool “Glow in the Dark”:
- Sawing 45 centimeter high stumps
- Sand the seat thoroughly
- Coat top with glow-in-the-dark paint
- Set accents with luminescent pigments so that dark colors shine brighter at night
Practical facility
A real tree trunk as a wardrobe or clothes rack sets accents in every apartment. The natural material is not only suitable for coat racks, but also as a wine rack and storage place for books. With a little craftsmanship, you can build a bed or a washbasin with just a few resources. Get inspired by these ideas.
| Type of wood | Object | Implementation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wardrobe | Birch, spruce | Tree trunk with branches | debarked trunk is placed upright |
| Shelf | Coniferouswood | branchless trunk, not too thick | Remove the bark from the trunk, screw the boards onto the sides |
| Wine bottle holder | Pine, spruce | thick stump | Drill holes with a hole saw, mount on stand |
| Bed | Oak, Beech | Solid wooden beams | Dowel beams to form a frame |
| Sink | Oak | two wooden panels | Drill recesses for the sink, screw them to the side plate and use plexiglass as a front panel |
Ideas for the garden
Handmade wooden fountains decorate the landscape in the Baden-Baden city forest. They consist of a solid tree trunk into which a depression has been made. For your own garden fountain you need a tree trunk with a diameter of at least 50 centimeters. Softwoods are unsuitable for this construction project as cracks quickly appear. Oak and ash are more suitable. You can also hollow out the tree trunk from above and convert it into a rain barrel. You can easily form a sandbox out of long and thin tree trunks, which only needs to be screwed together.
Holzbrunnen - Baumstammbrunnen - Herstellung im Zeitraffer
Decoration made of tree trunks
The ideas for decorating tree trunks are almost endless. Only your furnishing style influences the implementation. A tree trunk exudes a rustic and original character. It offers the perfect contrast to clearly defined lines in modern interiors. So that the object does not appear overloaded, you should use additional decorative elements sparingly. In the garden, however, playful elements are allowed because they particularly stand out in the green oasis.
How do I decorate a sawn-off tree trunk?
Decorating a sawn tree trunk is child's play because there are no limits to your imagination. You can remove the bark with a chisel and use the tree trunk as a decorative column. Together with children, you can paint the tree trunk or design it creatively using templates. You can buy decorations or collect and use materials from nature. Tree trunks can be embellished with fabrics and colors.
Make your own decorations:
- Glue napkins to the trunks with glue
- Transfer photos with transfer medium
- Make natural paint from pureed berries, plants or sand and white acrylic paint
What can you do with a sawn-off tree trunk?
If stumps are produced during the next tree felling work, you can process them perfectly. There are numerous templates that you can use to process the sawn pieces of wood. You do not need to carry out any special pretreatment for items that are intended to be used by animals or to decorate garden pavilions and balconies. Natural wood is allowed to develop itself, making it more and more beautiful.
Designing an old tree trunk:
- Sculptures: carving out with chisels and saws
- Scratching post: natural cat playground
- Flower pot: Plant dead wood stumps with woodpecker holes
- Lantern: Candle holder for outdoor use
DIY ideas for the garden and apartment
Become a craftsman yourself and design individual everyday items and decorative objects for your home and garden. A chainsaw makes your work easier. However, remember to fasten the materials securely and stably, as kickbacks can occur during this work. A little practice in using chainsaws is therefore very important.
Tree trunk with lantern
You need a round log with a diameter of 30 to 40 centimeters and a height of 35 to 40 centimeters. Roughly hollow out the tree stump with a chainsaw. To do this, pierce the wood about 30 centimeters deep on the left and right and then rotate the stump by 90 degrees. Saw right and left into the wood again and repeat from the other side until you can push a rectangular block of wood out of the stump.
Carefully remove the wood on all four inside sides so that an even and round wall is created. Saw light slots into the front of the stump. You can make the notches abstract or create a silhouette. Place the lantern on a tree disc and place a tea light inside.
Cutting board
Long-lasting cutting boards are made from the so-called end grain of tree trunks. These have the great advantage that their fibers are not severed when cutting. They retract when the knife edge penetrates and then tighten again. This creates a pleasant cutting feeling and the work surface remains intact for years. With a chainsaw you can easily cut a plank of end grain out of a tree trunk yourself.
Care tips for end grain boards:
- wash and dry quickly by hand
- store upright
- brush regularly with walnut oil
Build a birdhouse from a tree trunk
To build a nesting box, hollow out the tree stump. Proceed as you did when building the lantern. Thin tree slices serve as the floor and roof. An entry hole with a diameter of between 28 and 32 millimeters is drilled at the front. Tits like to accept such dwellings.
A birdhouse made from a tree trunk is rustic and original
Easter and Christmas
Easter Bunny, St. Nicholas and Santa Claus are popular motifs that are simply painted on the tree trunk. You can also decorate the tree trunk for Christmas and decorate it with artificial snow, fabric ribbons and pine branches. Cut the tree trunk into thin slices and use them as Christmas decorations for the Christmas tree. The tree slices can be painted, glued or left natural
Make an Advent wreath:
- four pieces of a birch trunk of different heights
- place a white pillar candle on each one
- Wrap candles with ribbons
- distribute Christmas tags and pine cones
Excursus
Recipe for a tree trunk motif cake
To bake the cake, first mix the flour, baking powder, water and cocoa together in a bowl. A little coffee powder refines the aroma of the chocolate dough. You need several dough bases, which are layered on top of each other with butter cream.
Then melt the butter and mix it with cocoa powder. When the mixture has hardened, spread it onto the side of the cake. Furrows and unevenness are desirable so that the cake later resembles a tree trunk. Spread a layer of cocoa butter on the top and draw annual rings with liquid chocolate.
Editing methods
Before you use the wood for your construction projects, you must treat the tree trunk. There are different processing methods that should be processed step by step. This gives you a robust and long-lasting natural product, which becomes unique through individual processing. You can also leave a dead tree trunk in the garden and decorate it with flower pots. For more stability, you can anchor the tree trunk in the ground.
Dry tree trunk without cracks
Slow drying in the fresh air is gentle on the wood. However, this process takes a very long time. If you want to dry a tree trunk properly, it should be stored for at least a year.
With this method, the wood always retains a residual moisture content of 15 to 20 percent because it adapts to the moisture content of the outside air. To control the drying process a little, you can place the log in a mortar tray filled with sawdust. Here the moisture can spread evenly and slowly.
Seal tree trunk
To ensure long-term protection, you must seal the tree trunk. It is important that the wood is completely dry. Otherwise, residual moisture can lead to mold formation. Natural substances such as coconut oil, beeswax or linseed oil are suitable for waterproofing. Oil the wood until it is completely saturated. Allow drying times of around 24 hours between coats, otherwise a solid layer cannot develop.
Tip
If you have cut tree slices from a fresh branch, you should also seal the cut. Otherwise germs can quickly penetrate the wood.
Sawing and hollowing out
If you want to slice or saw a tree trunk, you need the right tools. Which saw you use depends on the thickness you want. Chainsaws can be used to cut thin tree slices, but they won't be perfectly straight. For a straight cut you will need a band saw. A circular saw is helpful for cutting thicker slices.
You can hollow out the tree trunk with a hammer and chisel. However, this method is not suitable for larger projects because it requires too much time. You do the rough work with a chainsaw. Later you can also do the finishing touches with a draw knife.
Debarking and grinding
If it is softwood, you can easily remove the bark from the tree trunk. Use a chisel to pierce between the bark and the wood and carefully hammer the bark away. It usually separates automatically, so you can easily pull large pieces of bark from the wood. Hardwood is more difficult to debark.
| Advantage | Disadvantage | |
|---|---|---|
| High-pressure cleaner | leaves no trace | Wood gets wet |
| Pullknife | suitable for small areas | powerful, traces possible |
| Water | easy peeling of the bark | Drying necessary |
In order to get the surface smooth afterwards, you have to sand the wood. Sandpaper with a grit of 150 is suitable here. You can experiment with different grits. When sanding the wood is roughened because the fibers stand up. This also happens with a very fine grain, which is why the wood appears dull afterwards. You can get a really smooth surface by planing.
Cut lengthwise
There are special rip saws in which the teeth are filed at a 90 degree angle to the saw blade. They act like tiny chisels and cut directly into the wood fiber. With this tool you can saw along the grain. The saw is moved over the wood in increasingly longer movements until the full length of the saw blade is used. When you have sawn the board two thirds through, turn it over and cut from the other end.
Tip
Growing mushrooms on a tree trunk|Growing mushroomsMushrooms on a tree trunk are actually not desirable because they slowly decompose the wood. However, there are numerous edible mushrooms that colonize dead wood as decomposers. With the right material, you can grow mushrooms yourself in the garden.
Which tree trunk is suitable?
Use stems that have not been felled for more than three months. Older stumps may be contaminated with spores from competing fungi or microorganisms. This prevents the growth of the cultivated mushrooms. Fresh wood that looks he althy, has no mold or moldy smell and is moist is ideal for growing mushrooms.
Trunk size and type of wood
For comfortable handling, the logs should not be longer than one meter. The ideal diameter is 40 centimeters. A minimum diameter of 20 centimeters is recommended so that the wood does not dry out too quickly. However, there are some types of mushrooms, such as shiitake, that are relatively insensitive to drought. You can also grow such mushrooms on a trunk with a circumference of 15 centimeters.
These types of wood are suitable for growing mushrooms:
- Oak: Pom Pom, Chaga
- Beech: shiitake, oyster mushroom, Judas ear
- Birch: stick fungus, lime mushroom
- Poplar: Pioppino, rosemary mushroom
Vaccination methods
A tree trunk is the ideal substrate for mushrooms
The fungal mycelium spreads fastest towards the wood fibers, as this is where there is the least resistance. The cut inoculation method is therefore ideal for inoculating tree trunks. This involves making a large incision against the fibers, which is then completely filled with the mushroom spawn. With the disk inoculation method, the mushroom spawn is applied directly to a fresh cut site and covered with a tree disk. Here too, the mycelium can spread quickly through the wood.
Tip
With a self-made aid, you can fill the mushroom spawn more conveniently. Cut off the bottom of a can and form a slot-shaped funnel.
Storage
After the tree trunks have been successfully inoculated, they should be stored at a temperature between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius. A shady, wind-protected and, if possible, moist place ensures rapid growth of the mushrooms. You can keep the humidity at a constant level by wrapping the trunk in damp burlap bags. The growth phase, in which the mycelium spreads through the wood, lasts around eight to twelve weeks. If you used the disc inoculation method, you can remove the tree disc after this phase.
Growth test
If you want to check whether the trunk is already full of growth, you can saw off a two to three centimeter thick piece of wood from the trunk. The white-gray fungal mycelium becomes visible at the moist interfaces. If you do not see mycelium, the stem should be watered and stored at 20 to 25 degrees Celsius for the next ten days. Once the trunk has completely grown through, any coverings are removed.
Culture Growth
Place the trunk upright in a shady place and bury it halfway into the ground. This draws moisture from the soil into the trunk. Now the mushroom mycelium can grow into the soil. Depending on the type of mushroom, you can harvest the fruiting bodies after five to 18 months. The mycelium continues to live after the harvest, so that fruiting bodies appear regularly over the next four to five years.
The total yield of cultivated mushrooms is usually 20 percent of the wood weight. With good care, the harvest can be significantly higher.
Frequently asked questions
What can you make from a tree trunk?
The possibilities are almost endless. You can try out creative building projects and convert tree trunks into seats, shelves or tables. Smaller tree stumps are ideal for crafting. With the right tools you can design lantern holders, cutting boards or flower pots. Tree trunks can be painted with acrylic paint, embellished with photos or covered with various decorative pieces. With the right tools you can carve sculptures or faces into the tree stump.
Creative ideas with a wooden look:
- round carpet with tree trunk motif
- Pictures of wood texture on canvas
- drawn clipart as a template for wall stickers
- abstract drawings and templates for coloring
All kinds of furniture can be made from tree trunks
How can I repair a cracked tree trunk?
Epoxy resin is ideal for repairing holes in the tree trunk and filling drying cracks. The synthetic resin combines optimally with the wood and closes the gaps. Epoxy resin is particularly recommended for large gaps. To prevent it from leaking out, you can stick an adhesive strip on the crack after filling. After the resin has dried, it can be easily sanded and painted over.
Where can I buy a tree trunk without bark?
Getting a suitable piece of tree trunk at a reasonable price is usually not easy. The supply in the hardware store is limited because the demand for tree trunks is not very high. Look out for sought-after items at flea markets. You can also ask the nearest forest ranger. However, you have to remove the bark yourself afterwards.
It gets even more difficult if you want to buy a tree trunk with branches. To do this, you must contact specialized dealers or a tree trunk furniture shop. They offer such objects already fully edited, but this comes at a price. Therefore, take advantage of the opportunity when trees are felled in the community or neighborhood.
Which wood is suitable for craft ideas?
If you want to build furniture yourself, you should prefer hardwood logs. Linden, maple, ash, birch and oak are particularly solid and durable. Plates and boards are ideal for creating natural seating and tables.
You can use soft woods such as spruce, pine and fir for decorative items. These are easier to work with and can also be hollowed out or peeled using simple means. Burl wood offers ideal material for individual objects such as planters or candle holders.
Why is a tree trunk sawn up for a wedding?
It is a well-known custom that a bride and groom have to saw a tree trunk at their wedding. The trunk symbolizes the first major hurdle that the bride and groom have to overcome together. A slightly modified form of this custom is the wedding cake in the shape of a tree trunk. This obstacle is easier to overcome and brings with it a sweet surprise. Wooden wedding gifts are generally very popular. A heart made from a tree trunk symbolizes eternal love.
What to do about ants in the tree trunk?
Ants on the tree often indicate an infestation by aphids. The insects feed on the honeydew secreted by the aphids. A kind of community is created from which ants and aphids benefit. To get rid of ants, you have to fight aphids with appropriate home remedies.
