Understanding the production process of artificial Christmas trees
The quest for a perfect tree is a rite of the holiday season. And ever since the 19th century, people have been trying to come up with what you may tag the artificial versions of the ideal Christmas tree. What’s more, by the 1960s, the use of synthetics finally gave us the perfect fake fir. And that’s just something every homeowner would gladly pay attention to during Yuletide.
Today’s faux firs can be several stories tall. These big, artificial Christmas trees started with a steel skeleton — rollers bend steel tubing into arcs and they’ll be joined to form the base of the gigantic framework.
More often than not, workers weld vertical supports to the arcs, building the structure in sections. A spray of polyester powder gives the welded metal a smooth finish that’s actually tougher than paint. They bake the parts to set the coating. And finally, it’s time to assemble all the pieces.
Unwrapping the secret ingredients of an artificial Christmas tree
Meanwhile, a roll of green PVC plastic winds its way towards a roller equipped with many circular cutters. They slice it into a four-inch wide strip, then each of the narrow strips goes under a roller with even more blades.
They shred it into a needle-like configuration, leaving a solid spine at the center to hold the simulated needles together. An automated spool then winds up the fringed, green PVC.
Interestingly, these artificial needles come in an assortment of colors. Streams of the fringed green and a strip of brown PVC travel over tension control guides. Steel wire unwinds and merges with the green and brown PVC. This machine twists them together.
The brown strip lands at the core of the twisted fringe and creates the illusion of a stem among the needles. This twisting technology churns out a continuous supply of artificial greenery while giant scissors slice it to the correct length.
To make branches that appear snow-tipped, this machine twists and then frosts the PVC needles with a spray of white, latex paint. They use a ring fastener to crimp the artificial foliage together (that will be used to cover the tree’s framework). They string the lights and then plug them in to check each bulb. They also wire the ornaments to the branches — it’s one less job for the customer to do.
And now it’s time to put up the tree.
It has taken just one day for this artificial Christmas tree to come together, where growing a real one same size would take many years. So if you’ve got a special taste for naturals, you may want to have a rethink.
Truth be told, natural trees may tend to have some benefits over and above the faux Christmas trees, but they may not be the best — always. Besides the speed — they require much less time to prepare and assemble together for the holidays, they may also be way less in price, in some cases.
Whatever your preference, it is good you weigh up all options and consider which is the best Christmas option for your family.
