This project was built and designed by Andy from Third Stall Woodworking
This compact two-piece wooden tree is designed to be fast, inexpensive, and ideal for making multiple at once for gifts or craft sales.
Watch the full video and subscribe to Andy’s channel:
Design
The project uses a simple two-piece design: a triangular tree profile with a circular plug that becomes the base, plus a semicircular opening to hang a small ornament.
This minimal approach creates a clean blank canvas that takes either paint or stain well and lends itself to personalization without complex joinery.
Lumber Prep and Layout
Andy emphasizes maximizing yield from a single eight-foot pine board by careful layout and transferring reference marks to multiple blanks with a punch, avoiding repetitive measuring.
Using a single hole diameter for both the ornament slot and the base plug keeps the parts consistent and simplifies downstream operations like drilling and finishing.
Efficient Cutting and Jigs
Rather than cutting each triangle individually at the crosscut sled, a simple table saw jig made from scrap becomes a repeatable reference that speeds batch cutting and keeps parts identical.
The workflow pairs a budget hole saw for the circular cuts with a braced reference piece for the triangular cuts, showing how small jigs can dramatically reduce time and error when producing multiples.
Detailing and Shaping
Adding a chamfer around the edges with a router gives the trees a subtle profile and softens sharp corners, improving both looks and handling.
Safety-minded tricks such as mounting the base plug on a scrap screw to spin it at the router, and a simple drill jig for centered base holes, illustrate practical shop solutions that keep work consistent and safer.
Finishing and Options
To prevent blotchy coverage on soft pine, Andy primes before applying green spray paint, and also demonstrates stain options by pre-staining and applying oil-based stains for a more natural look.
A final wipe-on polyurethane builds light protection and sheen, while small ornament photo frames fitted into the semicircle add personalization and gift appeal.
Overall Takeaways
This project is built around repeatability and simplicity, making it a solid choice for makers who want to produce multiple, saleable items quickly and with minimal material waste.
The approach—thoughtful layout, simple jigs, light detailing, and flexible finishing—can be adapted to other seasonal decor or small tabletop projects where batch production matters.
These trees are a great example of turning basic shop routines into a fun weekend project that scales well for gifts or local markets.
Get Andy’s plans here: https://www.thirdstallwoodworking.com/shop/p/tree.