My Christmas Tree decoration

• December 1999

This sad Charlie Brown-looking tree decoration was actually far more sophisticated than it looks.

My mom had just given me my first router for my birthday.  It was a fixed base, 1/4″ collet model that wasn’t very powerful.  I had six bits all stored in a neat wooden box, and I was ready to roll.

With the holidays fast approaching, I thought that a simple, holiday-themed decoration would be in order.  With a 1 x 6 pine board and chunk of dimensional southern yellow pine, I struck on this idea.

I cut out the tree part with a jigsaw and cut the SYP block down to size with a hand saw.  That’s when the router came out.  I chamfered the edges of the block – top, bottom and sides.

The real fun began.  I measured the thickness and width of the base of the tree and carefully marked where I wanted to cut a mortise.

Yes, a mortise with a fixed base router. I fired up the trigger with the router up on edge, then gently tipped the router bit into the work.  It was a little hairy at times, but the mortise cut very well.

I test fit the tree into the base, then, to permanently fix glue the joint, I set the base into Bondo auto body filler.  I had the stuff around, and figured it would create a watertight bond.

I finished it with some green, yellow and brown craft paint and stuck the tree out on the porch. The first thing you see when you walk up to the front door during the holidays.  We will go to a local park and pick up a few pine cones to scatter at the ground around it, just to add some ambiance.

Over the past ten years, that’s where this decoration has sat during the holidays.  It’s one of the first decorations that comes out of the attic at the start of the season and one of the last that goes away.

Even in its tenth year of service, we would never dream of giving it up.  It still marks that our home is ready for the holidays, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thank you all for reading Tom’s Workbench through the holidays, and may each of you have a very Merry Christmas.