# Faux Tree Question



## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Just before Christmas we had a cubicle contest and I created an elaborate Santa's Workshop out of my cubicle...as a full building....roof and all. As you can imagine it got alot of attention (but alas, only second place).

Darklores Album Link - Christmas Cubicle

I have a coworker friend who hunts. After seeing what I did with a six foot by six foot cubicle, he wanted to know if I could assist him with a project. He wants to build a hunting blind designed to look like a tree. These are sold commercially for a few thousand dollars. I gave him ideas on how I might go about the project.

Now I want your opinions, suggestions, and links. Not to commercial oferrings, but to handmade projects. How would you do it?

DFW Haunters - Any of you interested in helping me build a tree?

Tree Blind

1. Needs to be mobile. 
2. Load on trailer.
3. Reasonably weatherproof (water and wind).
4. Look like a tree.
5. Cost effective. (eh, few hundred dollars maybe)

I've seen some past things with large squishy foam carved and coated to create animated trees. I'm thinking something like that. Stiff foam here in Texas doesn't curve and isn't thick enough. Great stuff in large quantity would probably cost too much. Unless there's a way to create a large circular structure out of pvc or chickenwire and spray commercial foam that hardens around the outside.

Thoughts?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Joiseygal used Great Stuff and a chicken wire frame to make a seven foot tall tree for her haunt. Might be worth seeing how she did it:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=31180

Here's a link to her vlog with a how-to for the tree:


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

I did something similar for a tree stump a while back. Monster mud over chicken wire (over wood), then squiggly lines of great stuff going vertically. When it was set, I took a hand saw and cut the foam in half to make a bark-like texture. I think it would look pretty good if I had painted it better.

In front of the witch on the right:


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I made a tree stump as a speaker hide-away from one of those round cardboard concrete forms and great stuff. Great stuff is the deal for texture. Not sure it would fool a deer though. Animals are not so handicapped in their other senses as humans are and so are not so easily fooled by visual illusions.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Use some sections of real trees, hollow them out, and use drip hinges, or maybe velcro fastners to be able to close it up around you (the hunter) It gives you the natural look smell, and color, and also keeps your costs down. You could piece together as many sections/panels as you need to get the desired size and shape.
And, other than for the deer, it's pretty environmentally friendly too.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Thanks for the links, but building a tree stump and an small room are different thing. Great stuff on a project like that is cost prohibitive. I started thinking it might be best to creat four or five sections made using thin wood frame and chicken wire, covered with fiberglass. How would an amusement park or zoo do a large exhibit?


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

Don't use thin wood, the wind will knock the hell out of it. 

Build the structure (or box) out of metal studs then fasten chicken wire over it with self tapping screws. After that finish with monster mud?

Any reason he wants a fake tree blind and not just a regular ol blind?


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## Rclsu13 (Dec 30, 2013)

I would absolutely use Great Stuff. Maybe 2x2s for a frame and chicken wire for shape. The cool thing about doing s blind is that its for hunting, they wont know its fake as long as its close. You wont have to kill yourseld on the details. Use this as a learning experience for future reference. Learn how to shape the wire and crve Great Stuff. Then later on down the road, you can make a kick ass tree for yourself


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I have a lot of experience with great stuff, and carving it. It's cost prohibitive. Consider how much it would take to do a tree that is 7-8 feet in diameter, and seven feet tall.

I came up with a plan use pink foam panel overlaid on a metal and wood framework. But the consideration at this point is fiberglass, to give it durability endure Texas client year round. I know about fiberglass but I haven't used it myself on a large project.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

You're talking about carving the foam, then coating it with fiberglass resin? That seems solid, but you'll have a lot of hacking to do to get the shape right. At $20/sheet for pink foam or $3.50/can of great stuff, I think it would come up about the same in the end, since you don't need to cover the thing in great stuff. That said, have you considered rigid expanding polyfoam? Basically the same deal as great stuff but in a gallon jug instead of a can. You can mix up small batches and paint it on. Sounds easier to me than making a circle out of flat panels (having done that to make a well a couple years ago, I try not to now).


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Sorry, my wording wasn't very good. I explained one solution to my friend, which involved making a octagon type structure with wall coverings made to look like a tree. Those panels I exemplified with a sample of pink foam carved and paint to look like tree bark. It works well.

But that original scenario was a cheap proposal based on throwing all pieces in a pickup, going on site and setting up for a hunt. It wouldn't be durable enough for year around setup. 3/4 inch pink foam is $12 for a 8'x4' sheet. Wood framing and such means full cost would be around $150.

An alternate method - plexiglass. Here's where it's theory due to my lack of hands on experience...make wall panels that are curved like a tree, maybe three or four feet wide. And molded to look like a tree and painted. I wouldn't expect the same detail as foam and expect cost to be higher, material harder to work with.

Your polyfoam comment is the type of suggestion I want to hear about. Ever use it? What the cost and durability? Is it cost effective for such a large area?


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

There are other brands around, but here's a good start: http://www.smooth-on.com/Rigid-and-Flexible/c10_1122/index.html

Coating in fiberglass resin would still be desirable for durability. There are also flexible expanding foams you might consider. Could eliminate the need to add durability if the surface is flexible.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Odor/fragrance will be a major issue, for the deer, and if you use the spray foam, fiberglass, etc., then for you, the hunter too. The materials tend to take a really long time to "gas off", and while the fumes might not seem that bad or strong to you, to the deer and other wildlife, it acts like a lighthouse, warning them to keep away.
You may have better luck with cylindrical framework that you could hang gillie / camouflage netting or cloth from. If you built the frame work from metal conduit and the types of joints used for swap meet canopies, it would allow you to easily move, store, and assemble it, and the cost and smell issues, on to mention the durability, would be minimal


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

He is now leaning toward a mobile solution that can fit in the back of a truck in sections. Originally, it was to be set on leased property long term. Which means deer would get used to seeing it and any smell radiating from it.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Chicken, I don't think that's a cost effective solution. That foam looks pricey.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Well, that's why the commercially available one isn't cheap! 

If I were building it, that's what I would use. You wouldn't need much. The 3 lb. version expands 18x, so one gallon would make 18 gallons worth of foam-- that's a lot of tree bark! Coat that in fiberglass resin, and you'll be set.


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