This video was originally produced my first year of creating YouTube videos (2017). I didn’t realize back then, my ancient DLS camera auto-focus feature was not working properly so I hope you’ll accept my apologies. Despite the mediocre video quality, the original video is among my most popular. I hope you enjoy it.

 Back in November of 2017, my wife Susan decided she wanted a pallet wood tabletop Christmas Tree to decorate and donate to the Women for Healthy Rural Living annual, fundraising, tabletop Christmas Tree auction. http://www.whrl.org

She sent me a web link, displaying several images of such creations she discovered online. They all looked too flat (2 dimensional) to me, and I wanted to show a little depth, or a somewhat 3D effect. To that end, I decided to use “Lapstrake” construction (this goes back to my old wooden boat building days), and I figured this method would achieve the desired effect. I already had some pallet wood on hand, disassembled, and with all the fasteners removed.

The only parameter I really had to follow was adhering as close as possible to the desired overall dimensions of 24” wide, and 36” tall. I was able to easily achieve this as I drew the basic shape full size on my building surface and used the drawing as a guide when laying out the parts. The tree was built and completed in an afternoon, and all that was left was for my wife to decorate the tree as she saw fit.

I think most folks handy with tools can easily build something similar with very little effort. Merry Christmas!

Here’s the video: