You know how Christmas tree stands are utter shit? When I was a kid (14, I think), I saw Da trying to get all four screws on the stand aligned just so to keep the tree straight, and using bad language the whole time - almost never worked right, he usually ended up tying it to the wall. After the tree came down, I got permission to modify the stand. I ground off that pathetic little tooth at the bottom and soldered in a 6" spike. I took the ring with the screws off the top and made a sort of clamp out of a 4" wide piece of saddle leather with a pair of screws to adjust it.
The next year, we drilled a hole a smidge smaller than the spike vertically up the base of the trunk and hammered the stand onto it. The leather clamp went round the upper legs of the stand and the bottom of the truck. The spike held the tree firmly into the stand and the clamp could be let in or out with the two screws to keep the tree straight. Used it for years.
Boru
The next year, we drilled a hole a smidge smaller than the spike vertically up the base of the trunk and hammered the stand onto it. The leather clamp went round the upper legs of the stand and the bottom of the truck. The spike held the tree firmly into the stand and the clamp could be let in or out with the two screws to keep the tree straight. Used it for years.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
