How an eventually found tree trunk became a beautiful scratching tree

I love cats. I always have and always will. I have also always had cats and always will have at least one of  them.  That also means that I´ve had a few scratching trees in my day and also thrown a few wobbly left-overs out.

I once took place in a scratching tree competition.  The participants had to put a given scratching tree together and the fastest was the winner.  I was the only female competitor and i as the universe desired, won the competition. :)  The prize was the scratching tree i had just put together, plus a package of food and toys for cats and i was photographed and an article was in the local newspaper.  It was fun yet surreal ;)

What i wanted to say with this story is that i have had experience with that which i was about to build.
The idea came from my best friend, who requested a scratching tree for her cats which also had terminated their current excuse of scratching tree.  The ones which one can buy almost everywhere are expensive and do not stay stable very long.  Cats who do use them, use them well. They have to hold out a lot of energy and strength, with which the cats give off whilst using the trees.  So the main factor is stability.

I ventured off, searching for the perfect tree trunk.  It took me ages.  I looked everywhere and always.  Always had my gloves with me and my car seats down for space to take it with straight away.  I eventually found the perfect one.

I live in Germany, though i come from South Africa.  I was brought up on different rules and regulations as to what one learns here in Germany.  One cannot just take a piece of wood found without asking permission.  So once i had found my prized tree trunk, i had to find the person responsible and ask if i could please take it with me.  My luck been that the forester just happened to be close by.  He said it´s not a problem, as long as its not too much.  So I found another that i would use for my best friend too.  Bonus. Thanks forester.

Tree trunks home and the first question. Should i leave the bark on or take it off.  I decided to take it off but how?  I googled how one does that and found something called a bark peeling iron, which i do not posses so i had to find a different idea.  I chose a hammer and palette knife which was working but was so tiring and taking too long.  I left the trunks outside a couple of days, where they were rained upon and then i used the bark peeling concept but used a knife.  That worked much better, just had to be careful not to hurt myself.

Bark off, ropes on.  As almost all scratching trees have the sisal rope on them for scratching purposes i did the same. I didn´t cover the entire trunk with it, just a couple of places.  The hardest part was then on my girlfriend, who rolled her eyes every time i mentiond wanting to get a chain saw.  She had the honor of sawing a piece off the bottom of the trunk, so that it would stand straight.  With a hand saw,  she has changed her mind about me getting a chain saw!!! :)

I decided for three surfaces for the cats to sleep on.  Those i cut out of one long plank of wood and padded them by means of old hand towels, then covering them with chosen material by using an industrial stapler.
(Be careful of your fingers!)

Then there are two of you necessary as you have to keep the trunk in the right position and screw it all together at the same time. This meaning, the trunk is not screwed directly onto the wall, the lying surfaces are screwed onto the trunk and then onto the wall.

I didn´t place anything under the bottom of the trunk, as it was cut very straight and another wooden plate was not necessary. (Thanks to my assistant bunny ;)

That was it. I just added a bit of decoration and the scratching tree was complete.  It is not only very stable but also a wonderful piece of decoration and nature in my flat.  I enjoyed making it and made the next for my best friend a couple of weeks later. (Pictures of hers are to follow.)