Arbutus Tree as Lamp

by Donna
(Sunshine Coast, BC)

Our daughter-in-law wants a 9 ft lamp made out of an arbutus tree and I need your tips. BC Hydro trimmed a large branch from an arbutus tree that might work for this lamp.

The daughter-in-law wants this 'tree' to stand tall and be a statement against the wall. She wants to place this tree at the end of the couch and then have it curve so its branches appear behind the couch. And she wants the natural rust color bark to remain in-tack and have end-product with all the smaller branches in-tack.

I need tips on how to:

1)keep the bark from changing color during the drying process?

--- R: bring it in from the weather.


2)any ideas on drying such a long piece of wood (other than sealing the bottom end), without its bark checking or cracking?
--- R: bring it in from the weather.

3)keep the smaller branches from turning black?

--- R: bring it in from the weather.

4)seal the bark so it has more protection? what product should I use? and when should I apply it?

--- R: don't have a lot of experience doing this, but once dry...wood may crack some here and there... then varathane can work fine or just use walnut oil so it can still breathe as it dries indoors

5) Would it be helpful to apply the first coat of sealer in long strips up and down the tree with an inch of unsealed wood in between the strips to help slow down the drying?

--- R: no idea

6) Ideally I'd like to keep the entire tree in one piece, but then how can I drill its inner core to feed the electric wire through? If I have to cut it into shorter lengths to do this drilling, how can I make the cut lines in the bark invisible?

--- R: just attach the cord on the back and avoid all this

7) Any ideas of how to mount the tree to a base? Is there a special type of base that does not interact with arbutus wood?

--- R: any heavy wood will do... make it big enough so tree won't topple. Use long screws or glue dowels through base into tree base

8) ANY other hints?

ANY and ALL help will be appreciated,

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Have fun!

Ron

Donna