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These rustic wood coasters are made from fallen tree branches, collected after a storm and repurposed into these gorgeous wood slice coasters.

About 2 months ago, we had a stinker of an ice storm. 

The giant willow tree in our backyard got hit hard and we were left with a pretty big mess to clean up. 

We rented a chainsaw, and cleaned up the trees in our yard. And then we offered to help out in our neighbors’ yards.

After trimming all the broken branches and hazards away, we found ourselves with quite a few fallen tree branches.

Call me sentimental, but I just wasn’t cool with totally disposing of the branches.

Trees make up such a big part of our yard and our lives, especially when the kids are young.

These were tree branches my kids climbed and clambered up. The trees that provided shade during backyard parties, family game nights outside, and BBQs.

Throwing them out just seemed too unceremonious and wrong.

Add to that, I’m not one to let perfectly good ANYTHING go to waste, let alone scrap wood in any form (see, for example, my DIY photo sign, jewelry holder, and cabinet door upcycle as a few examples of my love for making scrap wood into something beautiful!).

During our clean up, I devised a plan. I realized I could cut the branches further to make a gorgeous wood slice coaster set.

When I envisioned them, I knew the wood coasters would gorgeous in our house, and also make a nice gift.

In this post, I’ll share my DIY wood coaster tutorial, and explain how I transformed this mess of a backyard into these gorgeous wooden coasters!

Let’s get started!

How to Make DIY Wood Coasters from Tree Branches

Materials:

• Wood discs approximately 3″ in diameter and 3/4″ thick. You can forage for them or get them on Amazon.
• Drying area
• Rubber stamps and ink
• Clear polyurethane spray coating

Tools:

• Chainsaw, Miter Saw, etc. to cut wood discs
• Sander

Select Your Wood

To start this coasters DIY, I sorted through the damaged tree branches we had in our backyard, pulling out branches. Make sure your branches are fairly uniform in size. Mine were about 3″ in diameter, which was perfect.

If you don’t happen to have an ice storm wreak havoc on your yard, have no fear – there are other places to get tree branches to use in these DIY wood coasters.

One option is to get outside and take a walk in the woods in your area, looking for scrap wood that’s fallen to the forest floor.

Another option is to call a local tree trimming service and ask them if you can take a few of their trimmed branches. They might look at you a bit strangely, but chances are they’ll say yes.

You could also just take a wander through your neighborhood when the the weather is nice, and look for tree trimmers working, asking nicely for a bit of scrap wood from whatever they cut!

And of course, since we live in an amazing time, you can also just buy some off of Amazon!

Cut and Dry the Wood

Once selected, I cut my tree branches into 3/4″ discs with a chainsaw. We happened to have a chainsaw because we’d rented one for the ice storm cleanup.

However, it doesn’t have to be a chain saw. A table saw or miter saw would also work, if that’s what you have!

I then laid all the wood discs out on a vinyl tablecloth for a few days. I wanted to let the moisture dry out and let any sap seep out.

Every day I flipped them over.

At this point they were pretty rough on the surface and not looking too pretty. They didn’t look anything like the gorgeous wooden coasters they turned out to be!

Sand Your Nude Wood Coasters

My brother in law works as a carpenter and has access to a table sander, so I sent the coasters off to him to sand. He sanded them up nice and smooth for me and when I got them back, my DIY job was actually pretty easy.

However, I recognize not everyone has a full time carpenter in the family.

You may need to sand them yourself, and an orbital sander would work great, or any other type of home sander. You could also hand sand for this project – it will just take a bit longer.

Stamp and Finish the Coasters

I then stamped my coasters with a plain old rubber stamp and ink pad.

I used some inspirational message rubber stamps I had at home, but Amazon has plenty of “words on text” style stamps that would look great on this wood coasters DIY.

Once I had them stamped, I sprayed them with some polyurethane finish. Since coasters are meant for wet drinks to sit on them, I wanted to be really sure each wooden coaster could handle it. I did 6 coats of the spray finish just to be safe.

Final Thoughts

I’m probably biases, but I love how my DIY wooden coasters project turned out. Here they are in all their glory.

These would be awesome as a gift. I’d give them in a gift basket along with a bottle of wine and some new glasses. Just stack them, wrap with some cord or twine, and put them right in the basket!

This coasters project was really fun, and pretty easy to make, too.

If you like my ideas, please share this post!

Yield: 1 Set of 4 Coasters

DIY Wood Coasters: Shabby Chic Wood Coasters from Fallen Tree Branches

Print

These rustic wood coasters are made from fallen tree branches, collected after a storm and repurposed into these gorgeous wood slice coasters.

Prep Time 2 days

Active Time 1 hour

Additional Time 4 hours

Total Time 2 days 5 hours

Difficulty Easy

Materials

• 4 or more wood discs from scrap tree branches, approximately 3" in diameter
• Drying area
• Rubber stamps and ink

Tools

• Chainsaw or miter saw to cut wood discs
• Orbital sander or sand paper for hand sanding

Instructions

1. Select some fallen tree branches that are fairly uniform in size, about 3" in diameter.
2. Cut the tree branches into discs about 3/4" using a chain saw or miter saw, or whatever you have available!
3. Let the discs dry for several days, flipping them occasionally so moisture evaporates and sap seeps out.
4. Once dry, sand the discs using whatever you have available - an orbital sander, hand sanding, etc.
5. Decorate the wood coasters using rubber stamps of your choice and ink pad.
6. Finish with mutiple coats of polyurethane spray finish. I used 6 coats, letting each coat dry in between layers.