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DIY Tree Trunk Table & a Light


The previous day I extended my Ryobi sawzall to cut down a tree that was overtaking my house but was left with a stump. What to do? A table for guests and the ability to have a relaxing seat outside during the cool temps seems to fit the bill nicely. There was plenty of scrap pressure treated lumber up in the yurt opening from junk collected off of Craig's List from the prior year. Thankfully I'd already disassembled the majority of it to clear the open space and segregated it by type and size. Starting off with the existing trunk I got a mid trunk from the tree that was shaved down around ten feet away to stand in as the second support for the table section. From there I used two pieces of left-over 1x2 from trimming the inside of my tinyhouse to string together the remainder of the table surface. Any good picnic style table needs legs but the ground is very uneven where the table resides so I opted to creation of a fixed bench see-saw style seating arrangement in similar fashion to what one might find in a fast food outdoor eating area. after ripping, cutting a skinny piece of lumber length-wise or with the grain, I was able to use a single piece of 2x4x8 pressure treated lumber to brace the table supports together then use the other half of the plank as the center supports and lateral bracing for the two bench seats I made from a single length of pressure treated decking of 5/4x6x10. That looked to work out well so the only thing remaining was how to support the weight of people sitting. I opted to use vertical members from the same trees cut to make the stumps and after trimming off 4 pieces of first branch sections the benches were taught and secure. As night began to fall I decided a light would be the finishing touch the freshly scrubbed, cleaned, and newly water-sealed table needed before I called it a day. As the segments near the end of the video show, the light has a very neat refraction angle from the lens and creates an interesting prismatic display on the table top while still providing enough light to use while hanging out for either a chat or a meal. What project do you think I did next? Tags: #tinyHouse #offGrid #DIY #howTo #frugal #free #nature #natural #construction #landscaping #livinmicro #picnicTable #treeTrunk #yardLight #solarLight

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