www.bonsaitreeforums.com - Displaying Trees This Spring

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Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/27 19:02 Well, it's time to start considering what to do to make more room for more trees that I anticipate acquiring this Spring and Summer.
I have an idea I wanted to run past you all.
I was at Home Depot and saw "Step Stringers" in the lumber dept. and got the idea that if it tie two 5 tier stringers together about 7 1/2' apart, I could put 5 'steps' (boards) between them and create a lot of shelf space in a small area.
It would have a grand stand type look and the ability to display each tree individually instead of on a large table. And I'd then have the equivalent of five 8 foot benches in a much smaller area than individual benches would take up. Since I am terrible with cutting wood the pre-cut stringers would work well for me.
What do you think?
Also, I'd like to hear others ideas for benches.....maybe some pictures. I'm getting the itch and it's still only January.

---------
Regards,
Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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iamurthman

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Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 15:15 Bleachers are great for displaying. I built mine using blocks and beams and boards. You can see my display in the post listed above under related topics (where to find outdoor....). I've had this set-up for a few years so I'll throw you a couple of bones I picked up along the way. The size of the tread on the stingers is important. If they have different sizes, get the ones with the widest treads to get as much space between trees and to keep trees on one shelf away from the shelf above, ie. if a tree has a 14" wide canopy and you put it on an 8" shelf it will hit the trees on the shelf above. You want to be able to position each tree with ample space without interference or congestion. Staggering the trees so one is not behind the other helps and arranging the trees so the biggest tallest trees are on the top shelf and smaller as you come down allows full view of all trees. Weight is an important factor to consider also. My top shelf is a 3"x12" beam 14' long and set up on two blocks about 2' in from each end leaving a 10' span. After a full season I need to flip the beam over because it will sag in the middle. The lower shelves are 2x material, but the trees are smaller and the spans are shorter. The risers on stringers are about 7" and that's a little close to the ground for us older guys to be viewing our trees and very accessible to yard critters. You could put some legs on your stringers to raise the bottom shelf up to about knee-high or just cut the bottom tread off. My set-up is free standing and I can re-arrange the materials to suit the need. Using the stringers you're locked into the size and shape of the stringers, but still a great idea with lots of possibilities. You could set them back to back or put four sets together to form a pyramid around the base of a large tree or cap the top with boards to make a large center table. Hmmm, that's a good idea! I may have to build one of those myself.

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The only stupid question is the one never asked.

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JesRdKing

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Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 16:04 That is a pretty good idea, you can also just skip a step by not putting a tread or boards on too allow even more room between the tree's. Pending on the price of the stringers already cut out opposed to buying regular uncut boards and layin them out to cut. I work for a stair company and this is what I do all day. I was eventually thinking about doing the samething. What I would do would be to actually skip a tread thus allowing more room between the tree's. One thing once you lay out one to cut you can trace the other one out so they match. Obvisouly they wouldn't need to be perfectly square when built. Attaching a 2x4 to the back of the stringer to hold it up in place after it is built. Pending how long you are lookin to go you can lay out a third stringer in the middle thus stopping the sag of the boards in the long run

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JesRdKing

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Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 16:19 One can also make out a pattern on a piece of paper so then the only requirement would be tracing it out onto the material and thus cutting it out.

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djlen

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 18:32 JesRdKing wrote:
One can also make out a pattern on a piece of paper so then the only requirement would be tracing it out onto the material and thus cutting it out.

Yes, this would allow me to make a pattern where the first step would be higher as urthman suggests and also have the graduations between 'steps' higher. Maybe go with 4 shelves instead of 5 but with more room per shelf. Do you think I'd need to make the part where the risers (shelves) would sit wider to accommodate wider trees of could I use the same widths as the steps and just put wider risers on them. Or would they not be strong enough to hold wider risers?
Never thought about using 3 stringers for strength either. This is why I posted here. I'm basically clueless about this stuff. I have no idea as to how to tie them all together from the back.

As you can see, this is a work in progress. Any and all feedback would be helpful. I thought about doing this with blocks and beams but this just seems cleaner and easier once I get a plan/pattern in place. I might be naive, but it seems that to increase shelf height/depth the only requirement would be to start with wider stringer material.
Thoughts?
---------
Regards,
Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 20:36 Here's a picture quick draft sorry for the sloppiness

Post edited by: JesRdKing, at: 2010/01/28 20:38

Post edited by: JesRdKing, at: 2010/01/28 20:52

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 21:34 What the trees will be sitting on is actually what we will refer to as the tread. We would lay this out to cut out at 9" but you could still sit a 11" board on which would give you a 2" over hang. The riser heigth would be the 7 and 15/16" here by skipping a step and not putting anything there there would be no need to increase the heigth but in doing so would overall add to length the whole stringer thus increasing the height of the last step. These demensions gives a pull of 12" from point to point. By just placing long planks on this would give you plenty of strength. Me personally I would spend a little extra for wider stringer material. 1 1/2" but 1" material could work or even just 1" material for which the trees to sit on. You could screw or nail the material on by using screws you could easily disassemble it but it would also make it stronger- more secure. Me personally I wouldn't put any material in for the risers which would allow more airmovement less expense. The very last step wouldn't need to be cut at all or at least not how I have it pictured. Ok let's say I want my first step to be 2' off the ground mark the board at 2' then put the square point up to that mark and start from there and lay out remaining steps thus cutting down straight from there but I would still lay out the last one to give me the square cut at the bottom so it would sit onto the ground level but at the same time that extra space could be used to put down some viewing stones or who knows what. 6' would be the heigth of the last tread on which your trees sit on, if that's too high we can play around with the demensions to give you a lower heigth but having the same result. Would you care if there that dead space where we skip one whole tread. Me it just looks and overall the purpose what is doing is more important. We still would be cutting it out just nothing there, here again you could change heigths if need be later in the future too.

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djlen

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/28 21:58 Wow, there is so much here and I'm going to have to read it 12 times to be able to ask questions......lol.
I will come back in a bit and ask some. I do have one real quick one. The support (up-right) in the back. Is that a 2" X4"? If so, is that strong enough?
I will have many more when I come back. Thanks for the time you put into that.

---------
Regards,
Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/29 21:55 I put another thing up earlier this morning but wouldn't accept it and then I guess the site was down again just now able to get on again

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/29 22:23 A 5 x 11 will give you the same result just a little longer in the heigth. You could use a 2x 6 instead of 2x4 and I would also include another brace in the center of a 2x4 and anything longer then 8' I would probably use a third stringer in the middle.

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djlen

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/29 22:24 Yeah, I wasn't able to get on at all until a few minutes ago. I've got questions but feel free to put up more ideas please.
---------
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Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/01/31 16:42 Basically what I'm showing you is the precut stringers and explaining some of the area's involved or what we could change.

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djlen

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/01 00:21 OK, I have to apologize for my rant the other day in this thread. I was very upset because I'd just spent an hour composing a list of questions for you guys and when finished I got an error message and lost the whole post and then got kicked off.
Anyway, I hope no one took it personally and I apologize.

Post edited by: djlen, at: 2010/02/02 17:19
---------
Regards,
Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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djlen

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/02 17:49 JesRdKing wrote:
Here's a picture quick draft sorry for the sloppiness

Post edited by: JesRdKing, at: 2010/01/28 20:38<br><br>Post edited by: JesRdKing, at: 2010/01/28 20:52

Jes,
With this drawing we would skip the treads in between the selves which would have trees on them, correct? But we could put a shelf on the lowest 9" riser for smaller trees. And this is a standard size stringer sold at HD or would this be cut from a 7' board? I didn't see any this long when I was there.
If any of this is incorrect let me know. I'm not a carpenter so you need to talk to me like I'm 2.

---------
Regards,
Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/06 20:04 With this drawing everywhere there is a black line it will be cut. I guess what you would want to look at is how many displays area's (treads you want). You don't have to skip a tread I was just saying if you want a bigger space between tree's. This is saying then you actually have 6 steps or display area. At the same time you can with this always adjust a shelf to another heigth if need be. We can make this actually 4' tall with 4 shelves (treads) and yes the lower tread could be used for smaller tree's. This picture would be layed out on a 8' board and then cut out using a paper pattern which would all be layed out and just trace off onto the board and cut.

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djlen

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/06 23:26 OK, when you say an 8' board is that an 8' 2" X 6" or 2" X 8"?
Is the stringer you drew a stringer that they use in the manufacture of a stair case or is it modified with wider treads or higher risers?
---------
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Len

"As the twig is bent, the tree inclines"
- Virgil

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/07 14:19 I would say we would need a minium of a 2"x 8" board because of the angle that we would be using. Let me actually lay it out quick at work to see what the result would be. The wider the board the more area you will have under the tread. With a 11 1/4 " wide board and the demension I gave you would have around maybe 5 to 6" of space under the tread. I will lay it out using a 8" wide board and see what the end result is. If we are strictly just using it for tree's obvisouly we can get away with some of this area. Remember wider makes more strength ( weight bearing). This stringer lay out is something we do everday at work for a open stair case (manufactored stair case). As far as higher risers or wider treads we change this alot depending on the order. You typical tread with is around 10" includeding the nosing. We have made some with 7" treads and so on or as wide as 12 1/4". If you have a paper pattern the only tools needed would be a 7 1/4" circular saw or a jig saw to cut the board and hand saw obvisouly screws or nails to attach the material to the stringer and a level to make sure you braces are level.

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digger714

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/08 00:54 If you want more vertical seperation, then just lengthen the riser to 9" or so. Much more than that would lessen the strength of the stringer. Also, I wouldnt have more than 30" or so between stringers. This will keep them from sagging in between the plants, or use thicker material for the actual tread. If you use more stringers, you can use 1" boards for the treads, ask for a 5/4 bull nose board. Even can use 6" boards, and put 2 on for each tread, it will overhang. So, for an 8' wide set of benches, i would have at least 4 stringers, and 1" boards for the tread, and screw down with stainless, or galvanized screws. Good luck.

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JesRdKing

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Re:Displaying Trees This Spring - 2010/02/09 02:05 Just wanted to let you know I layed out the 7 15/16 x 9 onto a 7 1/2" wide stringer (which would be about what a 2x 8 board would be )and you would have about 1 1/2" from where the 2 cuts meet to the back of the stringer. So I would actually use a 2x 10 minium for the stringers for a couple $'s more the difference would be worth it.

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