Dennis Carter

Club night Thursday 11th September 2025

Dennis makes Christmas trees to sell for a charity dear to his heart and at this meeting he showed a range of much larger trees and how he finishes them.

He makes them from an open grain wood like Ash or Sweet Chestnut which he usually acquires from being a volunteer at a local woodland. He air dries the logs for several years before turning.

Once cut to shape he uses a liming brush which takes out some of the soft wood between the growth rings leaving them slightly proud.

He then applies two coats of Chestnut wood stain (allowing drying time between coats).

A coat of spray lacquer is applied to seal the stained finish.

Then rub into the grain a coloured wax of your choice and remove excess wax from the surface with paper towel.

Then apply three coats of spray lacquer allowing drying time between and then leave for a few days for the surface to cure.

Finally ‘de-nib’ and apply Woodwax or for a mirror finish use Burnishing Cream.

The pictures show the tree and also a ‘pot’ to stand the tree up.

All stains and finishes are available from the Chestnut Products range