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DIY rustic wedding cake stand from branches
Make a rustic tiered wedding cake stand from real tree branches and log slices with basic tools: balancing, levelling and hiding the fixings.
When a neighbour's tree came down in a storm, I saw a wedding cake stand in the branches. In this build I turn a bunch of sticks into a DIY rustic wedding cake stand: a tiered cake tree made with basic tools and a few inexpensive materials.
Choosing and balancing the branch
I started with a rough sketch and then hunted through the branches for one that suited the design. I cut the end square and drilled out the middle to take a dowel. When it didn't balance, I used the "calibrated finger" method to work out how much to shave off. Because I'd drilled two different hole sizes, I needed a stepped dowel, so I turned a custom one on the lathe (a broom handle would have done if I'd planned ahead).
Adding the log-slice tiers
The tiers are ready-cut log slices, which are cheap to buy online. I judged by eye where each platform should go and trimmed the branch to suit. I measured the angle for the hole in the base with an angle finder, drilled it, glued the dowel in and set the branch into the base. The hole wasn't perfectly accurate, so I filled the gap with a paste of wood glue and sawdust before trimming the protruding end flush.
The middle shelf fought me. The big drill bit kept wandering, so I switched to a smaller bit with a threaded tip that pulled itself straight through the wood, then opened the hole up with a sanding drum on a rotary tool. To level each tier, I hung the stand from my vice, checked the base with a spirit level and planed and sanded the branch ends until they were level too.
Hiding the fixings
The shelves were tacked in place with thick gap-filling CA glue and accelerator from Starbond before being fixed permanently with glued dowels. For the middle shelf I used a long screw but didn't want the head to show, so I sliced away a flap of bark, drilled and countersunk underneath it and glued the bark back over the top. It hides the screw almost completely.
After wiping away any squeeze-out (I was worried about staining the end grain, but it came out fine) the stand got a spray finish and was loaded up with cakes. It's a lovely low-cost centrepiece for a rustic wedding. Making something for a wedding? The doorknob salt and pepper grinders are another gift with a story.
Links to project tools and materials
If you buy through some of these links I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
Starbond CA glue
UK
USA
Canada
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