What you need

What you might want

Pallet wood Tree: sourcing scrap wood might be my favorite secret agent game ever. Pallets are everywhere, regardless of where you are in the world it is likely that some poor sad pallet is laying on the ground wishing upon a star that the right cat loving person comes along to pick them up and make them into something cool. Once you start looking for them it is truly amazing how much you will find them. I find that pallets typically have one good side, the other is usually in bad shape. The key is to find one with at least one good looking side. I like finding a variety of pallets as not all trees look the same.

Giant scrap Christmas Tree: Your local Home Depot or Lowes should have a marked down section. This is a place for cut and damaged wood, markdowns can be anywhere from 10%-100%. I routinely stop by this section with my daughter and we almost always walk out with free or close to free scraps. This giant scrap wood tree was born because we found six busted pieces of deck board marked down by 70% – when I got to the counter the discount was even larger (just smile and ask). Deckboard is pressure treated, meaning that it will hold up to the elements for years to come. 

Not having luck with the above two suggestions? Jump on facebook marketplace. Local businesses often post free pallets online hoping that they can get them picked up and out of their fur. Facebook marketplace is a fantastic resource for finding wood. We love it so much that I created a whole guide, find it here.

The key when selecting your scrap is to find pallets that are clean and intact, wood that is not splinted or broken in the middle. The deck boards that we found were sixteen feet long, the ends were all busted up but we didn’t care as we knew that those parts could be cut off. 

Pallet wood Christmas Tree – Using a long ruler or a straight piece of wood, trace your triangle. You are only making two very straight cuts per side. When marking the wood, note any screws that might get in the way. You will want to remove any screw that is in the path of the cut. You will have scrap wood left over from this cut. Use one of the longer pieces of scrap as the base for the tree. Simply screw one of the scraps to the bottom of the pallet for stability.

DIY Outdoor Wooden Christmas Tree – You need to create gaps between the boards, similar to what a pallet looks like. We decided to make the gaps equal to the width of a deck board. Before measuring and marking the cut you must decide on this gap. Lay the boards out and space them evenly. See the below picture for reference.

Pallet wood Christmas Tree – Cut lines

Scrap wood Christmas Tree – measuring with help

Pallet Wood Christmas Tree – Wearing your safety goggles, use your circular saw to cut along the two (2) lines that you drew. Flip the pallet over and cut the other side – or remove the back side all together. Use one of the discarded pieces of wood as the base for the tree.

DIY Outdoor Wooden Christmas Tree – Cut each board one at a time. 

If you are making a pallet wood Christmas Tree, then skip this step. 

You will need a sturdy post to hold the weight of this tree. We used a 4×4 post as the “trunk”. 

Lay the post on the ground and screw the boards in with outdoor wood screws. We used four screws per board. To get even spacing, we used a piece of scrap wood and made sure that the gap of the tree was equal to what we originally measured. 

The below image gives a good view before painting, you can see the gaps and the 4×4. This tree is heavy, so securing it will take a little bit of planning. Our tree was going to be mounted on our deck. I cut a square into the back deckboard and slid the 4×4 post through that hole. This was plenty of security for our tree. If you are not doing the same then you may need to dig a hole or secure the post to a fence or wall. 

Have some fun decorating! We painted the main tree white and snagged a ton of dollar store garland to decorate it with. We twisted fairy string lights through the garland and then Ayda helped hang (mostly remove) ornaments.  

This was a really fun project. I know that our neighbors thought I was nuts and I am okay with that. I love making things with scraps. The pallet wood Christmas tree has been done before but I improvised the giant scrap tree. It lasted the entire winter season, never blew over and still looks great! The best part is that you can take it apart quickly and easily for storage.

I truly hope my DIY Christmas Tree instructions helped you build your own, if you need some help please share your thoughts in the comments below or send me an email – thecraftycatsman@gmail.com , I am happy to help in any way that I can.

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