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DIY Foraging Tree Stand

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DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby indefine » Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:23 pm

Last weekend, I noticed on my way to work, a rather large maple tree branch was broken, but still attached to the tree. By the time I got off work, the branch had fallen to the ground and I thought to myself, with a bit of work that could make the perfect tree stand for Neko and Miku. I'd been wanting one for a while, but nothing on the market was in the range of what I wanted to pay. This weekend I was able to put some work into it and get it most of the way there. I just need to attach toys to complete it now. Anyways, the following are a few photos of the progression of fallen tree to foraging tree. Enjoy.

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original branch, approx. 12' tall, would only fit on my balcony for the time being while I whip it into shape


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pruning in progress to reveal the branch structure. this is where i started to imagine what i could do with this thing.


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with leaves removed, i continued cutting away branches to create the main tree that would actually fit my space, and saving branches for re-attaching in more desirable positions later


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next was to make the base and attach the main tree to the base and step back to see how it will look in its intended location


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Neko and Miku were wonderin what I was doin all day, but they finally got their chance to check out first hand what I was up to.


All in all, this was not as bad as I thought it would be. Originally I had a more elaborate base attachment designed, but in the end I found a heavy duty 4" hanger bolt threaded through a 3/4" pine base w/ fender washers and wingnut does a fine job securing the tree upright. I lined the bottom with a clear plastic stair runner, so any mess is easy to vacuum or wipe up. The stair runner is also nice because I don't constantly have to line newspapers on this thing. There are casters underneath for easy moving around, and I also splurged and got nice molding to use as edge trims to finish the tray. Quite functional and all in, I'd say about 40$, mostly for the tray parts and some various hardware to attach the branches, but thats minimal.

So, one weekend of tree cleaning, a weeks worth of baking in the sun, and another day to assemble the tree and tray, and only $40 all in, I think this went pretty well. Only the cleaning was the hard part and if I had better facilities I would do a much more thorough job. But in the end, its probably still turned out cleaner than a $400 tree stand from a dusty warehouse somewhere.
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby cml » Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:37 am

Great project and results! :D

Any pics of the finished tree?
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby emsy991 » Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:16 am

I keep looking at this because i LOVE it. Would you consider listing more details or a step by step about how you made it once you had a safe branch? I am really interested in doing the same!
~Emily from Rhode Island and Zooey the Image dusky conure-
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby marie83 » Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:51 pm

emsy991 wrote:I keep looking at this because i LOVE it. Would you consider listing more details or a step by step about how you made it once you had a safe branch? I am really interested in doing the same!


Easiest way is to get a large plant pot and secure the branch with gravel, works for the small birds anyway. Only drawbacks is if you don't like how it looks and the gravel makes it heavy. Ours cost about £7.50 to make and we can change it, dismantle it or add to it at any time :) Ours uses 3 branches secured with leather strips but you can just as easily just use one.

http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/Binky ... ort=6&o=32

http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/Binky ... ort=6&o=16
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby Gohan » Tue Aug 20, 2013 7:36 am

awesome guyz I will try that in my home
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby LadySaphine » Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:45 pm

I like this idea, Marie! I think I'll try it out.

Is cottonwood a safe plant? Sometimes we have to trim the branches at it's our largest tree. The bark has this nice texture too, Peanut would love it.
Peanut - :gcc: Yellow-sided Green Cheeked Conure. Rest in peace, my Peanut.
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby ceruleansilver » Fri Aug 23, 2013 2:24 pm

Cottonwood is listed as a safe wood for parrots on this website.

http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby LadySaphine » Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:05 pm

Well, today my parents neglected to tell me the bug spray guy was coming today. :/ So now I can't get any branches from my tree, great.
Peanut - :gcc: Yellow-sided Green Cheeked Conure. Rest in peace, my Peanut.
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby Scotty » Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:39 pm

I was directed towards this post as I've been considering a DIY project of my own.

Well after a few days of consideration, I realized my fig tree in my yard had a really nice trunk with branches I cut down.

To bad this post doesn't go into details about cleaning and with what solutions, and if the bark should be sanded off, from various types of woods one might use on their own project. As well as how one might go about various ways to secure the wood to a base.

Personally I live near the beach, so been thinking to soak the tree in the sea for a bit, like do a drift wood kind of thing, salt and sun does seem to do wonders for cleaning and preserving...
BeBe :gcc:
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Re: DIY Foraging Tree Stand

Postby chal3oye » Mon Jan 27, 2014 5:39 am

Would you consider listing more details or a step by step about how you made it once you had a safe branch? I am really interested in doing the same!
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