Material Ideas For Christmas Trees

[creative_cabinetry]

Have done many projects for my church and they are wanting trees cut from? They are props for a Charlie Brown Christmas that they do every year. The big trees are 4 x 8. So here is the list: 20@8' tall, 20@6' tall, 20@4' tall and 20@2' tall. Needs to be store-able and affordable and hopefully durable! They used Styrofoam in the past and they eventually fell apart. I use 1/4 mdf for a lot of the 1 timer stuff, but pretty fragile. Looking for suggestions. Thanks for the help

[Brady Watson]

You can make them out of plywood or buy them here (http://www.becausewecan.org/taxonomy/term/147)

-B

[ron_moorehead]

I would look at something like 1/4" MDO or maybe 6mm sentra both would have a nice smooth surface for you to paint. The MDO may hold up better and paint better than sentra.

[creative_cabinetry]

Is there such a thing as 3/8 MDO? Looking for a little more durability

[Brady Watson]

1/4" Dibond would be fantastic...Very stiff.

-B

[jim_vv]

The sign guys that I cut for use PolyMetal (http://www.nudo.com/Sign-Panels/Functional/PolyMetal.aspx). It is sometimes less than half the cost of Dibond and it is hard to tell the difference.

[creative_cabinetry]

What kind of cost for the polymetal? Would that be prefinished only or paintable?

[Brady Watson]

Polymetal is around $100 a 4x8 for 6mm. It is pre-painted & your choices in colors are limited compared to Dibond.

-B

[jim_vv]

A great supplier for PolyMetal here in Central KY is N.Glantz & Son (http://www.nglantz.com/locations_contact_info.html). They have locations all over the U.S. 3MM 4x8 white two sides $60.51. 6MM 4x8 white two sides $85.43. You can give them a call as green appears to be a standard color and may be obtainable.

[donek]

You haven't mentioned a budget here. At $60 per sheet (the lowest price I've seen quoted), you're looking at a minimum $2000 budget just for the material. Seems a bit steep to me for a church play, but what do I know.

At Lowes 1/8in masonite/hardboard is $8.98 per sheet and 3/16 is $14.62. Home depot masonite is not smooth on both surfaces. It doesn't machine too badly. I would imagine you would get some volunteers from the church to apply a bit of sand paper to it if necessary. It's super strong and should paint OK (never tried though). That should bring your budget down to about $500 for materials.

[creative_cabinetry]

This is something they will use year after year. Honestly haven't seen the budget. Was just exploring different options. Masonite may not be a bad option since it's more affordable. Possibly tempered?

[twelchPTM]

I have painted masonite and it doesn't turn out to bad, the surface needs a good sanding first and the edges tend to soak up the primer but with a couple of coats it looks good, the down side is it will bow no matter what you do to it. I had a couple sheets stored flat with a couple sheets of 3/4 MDF on top for about 2 weeks, they were flat when i started but a soon as I moved the heavy boards they popped up like a jack in the box. Budget is a huge question, for example HDPE sheets come in green (i have from King and Viacom - King is darker in color) you can cut out tree shapes and the color and material will last forever but its about 200 a sheet for 1/2".

[twelchPTM]

just remembered about 3 years ago I made two christmas trees out of 3/4" MDF, It was before I got a bot and I did all the cutting by hand, spent a whole day just on the template. Any way point is that they were dutch-lapped so they stood on their own and we still use them every year the only thing do is secure the ends with a small cross shaped cap.

[feinddj]

Luaun ply with a bit of framing on the back for the 8 foot trees would do. It runs about 8 to 12 dollars a sheet depending. That is typical theater construction. It takes paint reasonably well and better than mdf or masonite. If you want a smoother surface for paint, cover it with white unbleached muslin. you can use a thinned white glue to stick it on. This shape will be fragile no matter what with all the points. Making a good box to put it in will help a lot.

With the bot, once you have your trees laid out, recutting to replace should be easy.

david

[creative_cabinetry]

Thanks for the feedback. There are several great suggestions. I'll run the cost by them and that will help make the final decision.