How To Take A Bare Branch From The Tree And Decorate

This mail volition teach y'all how to treat tree branches for indoor utilize. Larn how to make clean and remove bark from branches, as well as how to finish branches for decor and crafts to ensure they look wonderful and terminal.

How to Treat Tree Branches for Indoor Employ

I'm dorsum from holiday 🙁 But I am really excited to go back to my projects list. Consider this postal service an appetizer for a post I take coming upwards later this week on how to make a true cat tree out of a real tree!

I was starting to put together the true cat tree postal service when I realized that it was going to bereally long. Then I decided to interruption out the office about how to care for tree branches for indoor use, specifically how to clean, strip, and finish the branches, and make it its ain mail service.

Besides, stripping and finishing branches is something that I call back a lot of people might be interested in. Non just those of you who desire to build a real kitty tree.

Using tree parts for home decor is beautiful, cost effective, and not too hard. Check out my post about my DIY tree stump side tabular array and this mail service on a lovely stained stump with wheels!

I likewise absolutely beloved these tree branch drawer pulls by Kelly over at Design Aviary. The possibilities are endless, and if you're lucky, y'all tin can go the materials yous demand to create these awesome projects for free.

When I started researching how to care for tree branches for indoor use, I was overwhelmed with the many different approaches. I had just pulled some branches from off the ground in the wood.

We weren't even sure what kind of tree they were from, although we had some guesses. We likewise weren't sure how long nosotros had to allow them sit out because nosotros didn't know how long it'd been since they'd fallen off the tree and what kind of atmospheric condition they'd been in since so.

So consider the steps I followed below to be only one approach. I'll provide some additional tidbits on other approaches I read about just didn't use along the way. 🙂

Here'S WHAT I USED:

• Branches and a dry out space
• A paint scraper—like this one here.
• Small manus-held saw—see one here—and a miter saw (not completely necessary, simply we needed to trim some thick branches down).
• Assorted sandpaper—I used 100 and 150 dust depending on the spot.
• Minwax Stain in Natural and Rust-Oleum Ultimate Polyurethane in Satin.

Hither are the steps to make clean branches for ornament.

(Call up to wear a mask and eye protection while sanding and working with wood, and wear an appropriate mask while working with paints, stains, and finishes. Follow the directions and warnings from your particular brand. Do not use whatsoever tools without proper training, precautions, and supervision from a professional. Read my full terms of use hither.)

Footstep 1: Find a suitable branch

We foraged the woods backside my parents' house and found two peachy branches that were already on the basis. I'd read that you had to permit the branches dry out out for a while—up of a yr, even. And then I thought it would be best to find something that had already been drying out on the ground.

We also didn't want to hack up any trees that were still growing when in that location are enough of fallen sticks and branches to choose from. Not knowing how long information technology had been detached from the tree was a risk we were willing to take. 🙂

After cutting the branches, we brought them into my dad'due south workshop, which has baseboard heating, to dry out for 2 more months. Nosotros guessed the pieces we had were pretty dry out since they did accept some cracking, simply we wanted to exist sure. If we'd idea they were newer branches, we would have let them dry for longer.

Step 2: Remove bawl from branches

Subsequently about two months, I started scraping the bark off. This is a very important step that a lot of people skip when bringing tree parts indoors. You need to scrap the bark off considering at that place could be bugs living nether it!

In fact, I found guide a few little guys while I was scraping. Bugs have a purpose, only I don't want them living in my home 🙂 The bark will eventually fall off anyway, so it's best to accept it off at the outset of your project.

There are lots of ways to de-bark trees. The ease with which y'all tin can remove bark depends on many factors, including what type of tree information technology is, how dry the woods is, and even what time of year it is. So it'southward hard to provide an estimate.

Unfortunately for me, my bark was not like shooting fish in a barrel to remove—and it looks like that's the example for many people if my Googling is whatever indication. But don't worry, the results are totally worth the time and frustration!

While I read that a lot of people utilise a draw knife and fifty-fifty a pressure washer to remove bark, I used a paint scraper. Information technology was my dad's idea, and it worked really well! It just took time and elbow grease, and it was extremely messy.

Step 3: Sand and polish the branches

Subsequently I'd scraped all of the bark off, I cried of happiness that the miserable process was over and grabbed some sandpaper. I used 100-dust sandpaper on some of the rougher spots.

Then I gave the entire piece a good, thorough sand with 150-grit sandpaper. I was truly amazed at how well sanding polished the piece. I did all sanding by hand since the branch was a bit curvy and bumpy—just seemed easier.

Step 4: Stain the branches

After cleaning off my work infinite and wiping down the branch with a dry out newspaper towel, I used a flake brush to apply a generous coat of stain. Minwax Stain in Natural really helped to bring out the woods's graphic symbol.

I didn't even wipe off the excess stain—I simply left it to soak into the wood for nearly 24 hours. Like I said, my pieces were pretty dry out, and so the stain soaked right in. (I too take a whole post about how to stain and end wood if you're new to the process!)

Step 5: Finish to protect

At this point I was giddy with excitement about how expert the branches looked. I finished them off with ii coats of Rust-Oleum Ultimate Polyurethane in Satin because I wanted to bring in a bit of sheen while providing farther protection for the branches.

This is a water-based polyurethane that dries much faster than an oil-based one. I also really love Varathane water-based polyurethane in matte. I used it on my daughter's dollhouse bookshelf, our cat house side table build, and our DIY plywood planter considering I didn't want much smooth on any of these pieces. You tin can see it'due south a cute, understated finish.

Left: Stain dried; Right Top: First glaze of poly on; Right Lesser: Drying poly

And here are my treated branches finished…

Y'all tin can see that the pieces have just the correct amount of sheen for what I wanted. I wanted them to look polished but non super shiny and fake, and I think the water-based poly in satin really achieved that look.

They practise look a simply shinier in person—this was hard to capture in photos. If you want them to wait like these pictures, I'd err on the side of caution and go with a matte water-based formula. You tin can always add a layer of satin on summit of the matte if you lot don't love information technology.

You tin see the cat tree made out of a real tree build that these branches were finished for too! And I too did a mail service about how the tree held up years later because I get a lot of questions nigh it. This is probably my favorite project of all time.

Also, while making the true cat tree, we have to level off the branches. After all this work staining and finishing the branches, I couldn't bear throwing out scraps we had to cutting off. So I made a tiny faux delicious planter out of one of the branch pieces. It'south a cute and like shooting fish in a barrel DIY!

Pivot my tips about how to care for branches for indoor decoration and crafts!

Instructions

1. Find a suitable co-operative. Ones that are already laying on the ground are best considering they have already started to dry out. Notation that is all-time to let them continue drying out for at to the lowest degree 2 months if you are wanting to utilize them indoors.
2. Remove all the bawl from the branch using a paint scraper.
3. Sand the branch to remove any rough spots using 100 grit sandpaper. And so, using 150 grit sandpaper, sand the entire branch.
4. Wipe down the unabridged co-operative with a dry paper towel to remove all the dust and debris.
5. Use a chip brush to apply a generous glaze of stain. No demand to wipe off the excess stain, leave it to soak into the wood for 24 hours.
6. Finish the branch with 2 coats of polyurethane in satin to protect it and you're done!

Source: https://www.bybrittanygoldwyn.com/how-to-strip-and-finish-branches-for-decor/

Posted by: parhamfeciat.blogspot.com

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