It's cast iron and beautiful, but the centering spike is not what I expected. I've owned similar tree stands in the past and the centering spike is just that - a small spike in the center of the bottom of the stand, about an inch high, that you balance the tree on while tightening the bolts. The picture of this product on the listing reflects this kind of spike. The stand I received has what I would call a post in the center (see attached pictures) I read the instructions that came with the stand and sure enough, I am supposed to carefully drill a 4 inch hole in the bottom of the tree stump to position it on this post. I wish I had known this before I ordered this stand. While I'm sure this stand will be sturdy, I don't own a drill or trust myself to drill the correct hole in the bottom of my tree. I'm disappointed, I really wish I had received a stand with a normal centering spike like I ordered.

I've had one of these tree stands for about two decades - or had it until it went missing this year. But for that, it would go on forever, and I will just chalk the loss up to experience and buy a new one. Heavy -- something like 12 to 15 pounds -- with a reservoir and footprint big enough to hold a tall, broad, large diameter tree. To mount the tree, you will need to drill out a hole about a half inch deep and half an inch in diameter in the base of the tree, and then lift the drilled out place in your tree onto the cone-shaped spike in the center of the reservoir. Cinch the three heavy bolts up against the tree trunk and adjust as needed to get the tree standing straight. Fill the reservoir - it will take about 500 ml of water if your tree is rather large, since much of the reservoir will be tree.

And there you have it. By the way, I assume these are the same stands made by John Wright in Pennsylvania (thus the 'JWR' prefix in the item number) and if you go to the Wright web site, you will find replacement bolts, including the flat faced ends that hold the tree. Those are the only moving parts and the only thing that will eventually wear, bend or break after years of use and as a result of corrosion, stress and metal fatigue. The replacements are inexpensive and will buy you another decade's use if and when the original bolts start to go. The baked on paint seems to be indestructible, even if you leave your stand out in the elements most of the year.

Old fashioned quality. If you've grown tired of the usual pressed metal or plastic cheapies that need to be replaced every few years, and are willing to plunk down the coin for a tree stand that will last a lifetime, this is the one.

I had this type of stand years ago and they work great! It's sturdy and we used it on trees up to 9' tall. The only drawback is you need to have a watering system in place as the reservoir is small and needs to be refilled frequently (especially if the tree trunk is wide). For the one I ordered, the quality of the paint finish was fine. It does have more of a burgundy color than red as shown. My biggest disappoint was in the quality of the casting. It looks like it wasn't properly finished after being taken out of the mold. There were several areas that looked like someone should have used a grinder to remove the casting marks so it had a cleaner look before it was painted. I could have used a tree skirt to hide the stand but I wanted this stand to be part of the presentation. After considering it further, I returned this item because of the poor finish of the casting.

After many years of fallen trees we decided to replace our traditional stand with this one. So far so good. Other reviews claim the color is bad but I don't think it's so bad, mind you I cover it with a tree skirt so its not a huge issue!

I love this tree stand. It has a screw on the bottom to help stabilize it. It is heavy duty and a beautiful old fashion cast iron tree stand. It holds the nice big fat trees. I love this tree stand and so does my husband. It is a great and beautiful tree stand. It works great.