Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

No Such Thing as a Bad Pallet?

I am still picking up a number of good pallets at a few places in town. However, one of my favorite places used to be Harbor Frieght. I don't think I have seen a pallet outside their store by the trash bin for about 6 months. I talked to the manager a few weeks ago and asked him about their pallets. He told me that they return most of their pallets now, so they just don't have many, if any, to put out anymore.

I know a few other stores in town have been returning their pallets for longer than I have been into pallet projects. But I don't know if more stores sending pallets back is going to be a thing, or not, in our future. Frankly, if they do recycle their pallets that way, I would be glad because it would reduce the amount of "trash" sent to our landfills. Obviously, I don't consider pallets to be trash, but once they end up at the landfill, that is all they are and get buried along with everything else.

I have a nice stash of pallets in the backyard for my future projects. For the past several months, I have only been picking up the best pallets in the sites I visit. I can only get 6 pallets into the back of my old Ford Explorer. So, I just pick out the 6 best pallets I can find, load them up, and head on home. If I was not very excited about the value of the pallets that were available, I would just head on home with the truck empty.

Today, I had a change of mind. I only found one site today that had any pallets outside, and they were not great. I had the back of the Explorer empty, so I was determined to try to pick up some pallets on that trip. The pallets I looked at today were not in great shape. Probably not even average condition. But I knew I could salvage some good wood off them and the rest of the pallet would be scrap.

But I have been thinking of the suggestion to use all those pallet wood bits and pieces and scrap lumber to use as fill in my hügelkultur raised beds. That was a great idea. So now when I look at a pallet, I ask myself how much good lumber can I salvage from that pallet and the rest of that wood will just be used as fill in my next raised bed.

Essentially, nothing needs to be wasted with that end use in mind. The good wood will be used in a project, like making the raised bed, and the scrap wood, bits and pieces, will get tossed in the bed as filler! Bravo! No such thing as a bad pallet for me anymore. I have found a way to use all those broken pieces that are not good for anything else.

If I had a wood burner attached to my furnace, those pallet wood scrap pieces would be like money in the bank. But I don't have a wood burner.

Previously, I was just tossing the pallet wood scraps into a burn ring when I burn out stumps. Not much value in that, but at least it served some purpose. Using those scraps as filler in my raised beds was a much better suggestion to me.

I would like to hear from others what they do with their scrap pallet wood that is not good for any projects. The more ways we use that pallet wood resource the more value we can get out of them.

 

[chickengr]

I have a wood stove so I use scrap pallet wood to start the fire.

 

[Molpet]

Around here it's rare to find any pallets, they have been sending them back for over 20 years. I got something on a pallet for work and they asked if I could bring it back. I brought one with that was ok and they said it was good enough. I didn't want to make another trip. I used to get from work but even before I retired they had a buyer, so that dried up.

 

[gtaus]

I have a wood stove so I use scrap pallet wood to start the fire.

Yeah, I wish I still had a wood stove. I used to have one in my old garage and we would burn wood in it to heat the garage in the winter. That would have been perfect for the pallet wood bits and pieces that I have these days.

Around here it's rare to find any pallets, they have been sending them back for over 20 years.

Well, too bad you don't have a good supply of pallets to use. But, like I said, a big part of me would rather see the pallets being reused and recycled in the system rather than end up being sent to the landfill as trash.

As I mentioned, it seems like some of my pallet sources are drying up as well. I still have other sites that are putting out pallets for pickup, so I hope, for my selfish reasons, those places continue to set out their pallets for free.

I probably have enough pallets in my stash to last for a few years, but I have recently started to pick up more pallets when I go into town if they are available. I don't want to assume that free pallets will always be available in my hometown, either. If I have room in the back of the old Explorer to pickup some pallets, I drive by my favorite sites to see what is available. Good for me if I find any and it saves those pallets from the landfill.

 

[fuzzi]

I have not forgotten the cattle panel as a trellis suggestion, either, but I think I just want to use what salvaged lumber and leftover wire fencing I have on hand first before I purchase any new materials.

The price of those cattle panels continues to go up. Here is our current price where I live...

View attachment 3778421

If the salvaged wood trellis does not work out this year for the tomatoes, next year I'll just invest in some of those cattle panels. I know a number of people really like them, they last forever, and take almost no time to put up.

Last time I checked they were $35 each, here.

 

[Smokerbill]

My chickens have been laying in the same two Busch beer boxes since they started, and they (the boxes) have gotten kind of worn out. Two hens regularly squeeze into a single box at the same time to lay, and I've seen three in one box a couple times.



So today I decided to make a single, large communal nest box for them. The lumber I used was free stuff from a trash pile at a new home construction site. I pulled, straightened and re-used nails to attach the 2x6 frame together. I tacked on a piece of OSB to the bottom with ring shank nails I bought from the Ace hardware discount table. Inner dimensions of the box is 13"x24"



To make the new box feel more familiar to the chickens I went around three sides with one of the beer boxes. Not sure how it'll work out, but I hope the chickens feel comfortable enough to use it.

 

[gtaus]

So today I decided to make a single, large communal nest box for them.

I would love to hear how well that large communal nest box works for your girls. I have 3 nest boxes for 10 hens and they usually only lay eggs in 2 of them. Occasionally, I might see 2 chickens in a nest box at one time, but I don't watch the girls 24/7.

The lumber I used was free stuff from a trash pile at a new home construction site. I pulled, straightened and re-used nails to attach the 2x6 frame together.

Looks like a major upgrade on that nest box. Thanks for sharing all those pictures.

I love how you straightened and re-used those nails. I have a couple of ice cream pails full of used pallet wood nails. Some were straight when I pulled them out, some I straightened later, and some still need work. I have all those used nails ready to be used but every project I have built so far, I have used screws, not nails.

FWIW, the Air Locker AP700 I bought off Amazon does a great job in straightening the nails before you punch them out with the tool. You just stick the bottom of the bent nail into the nose of the air locker, straighten it out, then shoot it out. Many, many nails come out straight using that gun whereas before most of the nails I pulled with a hammer would be bent.

For anyone interested in buying an air punch (de)nailer tool, there are less expensive brands than the Air Locker AP700. However, the Air Locker AP700 has replaceable drivers. Eventually, you will either wear out or break that driver. In many (if not all) of the less expensive brands, you have to toss the entire tool if/when that driver is damaged. With the Air Locker AP700, you simply replace the driver with a new one (about $12.00).

The Air Locker AP700 is not a must have tool. I got by fine for years pounding out nails with a hammer. But the Air Locker AP700 does the same job, only better, about 3X as fast. In most pallet wood planks, it shoots the nail completely out of the wood. If you shoot a nail out of a 2X4, for example, it will not shoot it out completely. You would still have to use your hand, or a hammer, to pull it out that last half inch of the nail. But it is still much faster and easier than using the hammer for everything.

I consider my time worth something, so the Air Locker AP700 was a good investment for me and my pallet wood hobby. It has paid for itself. If you saved and reused those nails, it would even be an even better investment because it will straighten out many nails for you in the process of shooting them out.

 

[Smokerbill]

I would love to hear how well that large communal nest box works for your girls. I have 3 nest boxes for 10 hens and they usually only lay eggs in 2 of them. Occasionally, I might see 2 chickens in a nest box at one time, but I don't watch the girls 24/7.

I will let you know how it works out.

 

[chickengr]

My chickens have been laying in the same two Busch beer boxes since they started, and they (the boxes) have gotten kind of worn out. Two hens regularly squeeze into a single box at the same time to lay, and I've seen three in one box a couple times.

View attachment 3779609View attachment 3779610

So today I decided to make a single, large communal nest box for them. The lumber I used was free stuff from a trash pile at a new home construction site. I pulled, straightened and re-used nails to attach the 2x6 frame together. I tacked on a piece of OSB to the bottom with ring shank nails I bought from the Ace hardware discount table. Inner dimensions of the box is 13"x24"

View attachment 3779612View attachment 3779613

To make the new box feel more familiar to the chickens I went around three sides with one of the beer boxes. Not sure how it'll work out, but I hope the chickens feel comfortable enough to use it.

View attachment 3779614View attachment 3779615View attachment 3779616

years ago all of my hens (almost 20) wanted to lay in just 1 nest box. I made them something similar to your new nest box but at least double in size so they were happy to lay there without fighting.

 

[Molpet]

I use large plastic dog crates as nest boxes. When one goes broody it's nice to be able to shut the door to prevent extra eggs. I have it so she can push it open, so a few extra eggs if I'm not out there when she's off.