Live Edge Mulberry Wood Stands

[VIDEO TITLE: DIY Live Edge Mulberry Wood Stand — Quick Build Recap |

LumberJimEP.com] [VIDEO DESCRIPTION: A quick look at how we turned a mulberry log from a family backyard into a set of live edge wood stands, cutting the rounds, pouring green epoxy resin into the cracks, and finishing with hairpin legs. Full written tutorial and materials list at LumberJimEP.com/live-edge-mulberry-wood-stand-diy.]

Turning a Backyard Log Into a Keepsake

Coming from a family of what I'd call light hoarders, I've collected and kept a lot of things over the years, some for their sentimental value, some just because I thought, "I can do something with that." That's exactly what happened with a section of trunk I cut from a mulberry tree in my grandparents' backyard.

I was partially raised in that house. My grandmother babysat me under that tree. My grandfather takes credit for teaching me to walk under it. A swing hung from one of its branches where my brothers, cousins, and I spent entire summers. We climbed it, found Easter eggs hidden in it, dared each other to see who could get highest, and scraped up plenty of skin falling out of it along the way. By the time I was living in that house as an adult, the tree had died, and I was the one who cut it down.

I kept pieces of it, branches, logs, a section of trunk, and most of it slowly got tossed over the years as it started looking more like yard debris than anything worth keeping. Except for one log. This project is what became of it: a set of live edge mulberry wood stands, built from wood that had been sitting in my yard through sun, rain, and snow for about four years before I finally put it to use.

If you want to build your own version of this DIY mulberry wood stand, here's exactly how I did it, tools, missteps, and all. And if you'd rather have one made for you, I've got you covered too.

Prefer to skip the sawdust? [Shop the finished Live Edge Mulberry Wood Stand on our Etsy shop] — no epoxy gloves required.

Materials & Tools Needed

Power Tools

• Cordless Drill / Driver Set

• Palm sander (orbital)

• Reciprocating saw

• Reciprocating saw blades

• Plunge router

• Flat router bits

Hardware

• 16" hairpin legs

• 6" straight braces

• Wood screws (for pilot-holed hardware attachment)

Epoxy Resin Supplies

• Nitrile gloves

• Epoxy resin (2-part)

• Mica powder to tint epoxy (I used emerald green and chartreuse)

• Disposable measuring cups

• Seaming tape

• Plastalinne clay (for damming cracks before pouring)

Sanding & Finishing

• Sanding block

• Wet/dry sandpaper (up to 3000 grit)

• Danish oil, natural finish

• Polyurethane topcoat

• Terry cloth towels

  
  

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases — check out the linked materials above if you want the exact products I used.

Don't want to buy a whole shop's worth of tools for a one-off project? The finished mulberry wood stand is [available in our Etsy shop] — same wood, same process, none of the tool investment.

Step 1: Slice the Log Into Wood Rounds

After four years of letting the mulberry log dry out in the yard, I was confident it had cured enough to work with. I dragged it to my workbench, wedged some 2x4s underneath it, and clamped everything in place so it wouldn't roll on me.

From there, I cut roughly 1–1.5 inch thick wood rounds off the log using a reciprocating saw (my chainsaw was out of commission at the time, but either tool will get the job done). The slices came out clean enough to work with right off the saw.

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Step 2: Fill the Cracks With Colored Epoxy Resin

Four years of sun, rain, and snow had left the wood with a fair number of cracks, not ideal for structural integrity, but a great excuse to finally try epoxy resin on something. I taped up the bottom and sides of each crack, then reinforced the tape with plastalinne clay pressed around the edges. Of every method I'd tried up to this point, this combination has done the best job of stopping leaks.

I mixed the epoxy resin per the manufacturer's instructions, added emerald green and chartreuse dye powder, a nod to the green my grandfather (and later my dad) always kept that house painted, and poured it into the taped-off cracks. Don't be surprised if you need to do this two or three times per crack; dried wood soaks up more resin than you'd expect, and small leaks are common on the first pour.

Step 3: Let the Epoxy Cure

Once the cracks were filled, I let everything cure for a full 72 hours before touching it again. Resist the urge to rush this step, epoxy that hasn't fully hardened will gum up your sander and router bits in the next steps.

Step 4: Level the Wood Rounds With a Router Jig

The resin doesn't dry perfectly flush with the wood surface, and the rounds themselves weren't perfectly level after cutting. To fix both problems, I put together a simple makeshift router jig, a level frame that guides the router back and forth across the piece, and ran it over both sides of each round a few times until they were roughly even in thickness.

Step 5: Sand Everything Smooth

With the rounds leveled, I sanded them down to 3000 grit using an orbital palm sander, a sanding block, and wet sandpaper. This step does double duty, it smooths the wood grain and polishes the epoxy resin to a nice shine at the same time.

Step 6: Arrange and Brace the Rounds

Once the rounds were clean and level, I chose which face on each round I wanted showing, then flipped them face-down and arranged three of them together in a rough triangle. I connected them with flat braces on the underside. I'm not confident these braces can handle serious weight in this configuration, so I wouldn't recommend loading anything heavy on top of a stand built this way.

I always drill a pilot hole before driving any screw into wood like this, mulberry is prone to cracking, and a pilot hole goes a long way toward preventing a split this late in the project.

Step 7: Attach the Hairpin Legs

With the rounds braced together, I attached 16" hairpin legs to the underside, again pre-drilling pilot holes before driving the screws.

Step 8: Apply Danish Oil, Then a Protective Topcoat

Once assembled, I rubbed on a natural-finish Danish oil to bring out the grain. At the time I honestly didn't know mulberry wood had this much color and pattern in it until I saw it oiled. I let that cure for about three days, then added a polyurethane topcoat over it.

I went with polyurethane instead of a full epoxy resin pour over the face because I wanted a satin finish rather than the high-gloss look resin gives and because this particular set was headed to a house with three young grandkids running through it regularly, so it needed to hold up to some bumps.

Let the polyurethane dry fully before use.

The Finished Live Edge Mulberry Wood Stand

The finished stands came together right in time to give as a birthday gift to my father, who appreciated the piece even more once he knew where the wood came from the tree in his childhood home. It's a good reminder that hoarding the right things, for long enough, occasionally pays off.

Buy the Finished Piece or Get the Plans

Don't want to track down a router jig for a one-time project? [

Want a custom piece from your own tree? I

f you've got wood from a tree with some history behind it, we can turn it into something like this. Email us at LumberJim.EP@gmail.com to request a custom order

You spent time in its shade. We'll make sure its memories never fade.