When it comes to displaying my trees in my garden I prefer something, shall we say, different, than what most people use.

The general rule is that the display table shouldn’t be so extravagant that it draws attention from the tree.

As wacky as my tables might be, people always look at the tree first.

Starting with this found piece-



which is one side of a kid’s bunk bed, I’m going to make a bench.

Tools:



Angle grinder, welder, gloves, welding helmet.

I going to remove this mechanism,



which is not very pretty, but the bolts holding it



are rusted solid.

Grind the head off



And get the BFH out (big effing hammer)



Now the shelf supports



Gotta get rid of that square tab



And grind off the paint. You need clean metal or its tough for the arc to complete the circuit.



I like to use metal because you don’t need the bracing wood requires to give the piece rigidity. The shelf supports are 1-1/4 inch angle iron and the thickness of the steel is 1/8 inch. The bed frame is not as thick walled steel as the angle but, being tubular,has stiffness. The trick will be not burning through it. Welding thick to thin is a bit tough.

Using my trusty magnetic right angle



A couple of tack welds to hold it



Make sure it’s straight and square



And weld it up



Brush off the slag with a wire brush (Wire brush? Because it works)



Ain’t that a purty weld?

Other side



The angle iron is galvanized (Don’t weld on galvanized steel unless you are wearing breathing protection) and it’s tough to see but the welding/ heating process on the galvanization makes a snowy, cottony white substance. Don’t breath it. Not good.

Now some legs



And it’s off to paint



What next?

I like to juxtapose different materials and styles.

Granite with iron rebar.

Plastic with marble.

Chrome with rust.

Contemporary with rustic.

This will be a contemporary steel shape with rustic, rough cut wood.

It might work.

I’m back at the house and my son Andrew is helping.

Measure



Cut



Measure, cut



The frame is back from paint (I just spray painted it actually. I can’t afford sending something out. It sounds cool though. They say it all the time on American Chopper.)



Line the boards up. No measuring, we do the spacing by eye.

Attach the shelf to the frame



The material cost on this only consisted of the flat boards (3 at $1 apiece) the spray paint (99 cents) the consumables from the welding and the screws.

Really inexpensive. I love being able to repurpose things and make something from nothing.

Here’s a stand I made last year









The base is a rotor off of a car, the twisted wire was found scrap, the base is a chunk of red cedar I had from a wood carving.

A bit unusual (I don’t think the tree matches the stand. Maybe a left handed cascade might work better) but (most importantly) I like it.

Here’s new the stand in place





An armadillo sneaks into the story



Looks good with a tree on it.

I just need to put mulch or rock on the ground and it will look even cooler. Or not.