Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Today, I was breaking down a few pallets to get enough 2X4's to make another pallet wood raised bed. Felt good to tear apart some stuff, again, and I took apart 3 pallets in little time. I used my Air Locker AP700 to remove the nails from the pallet slats. That works great. But I still have to pull out the nails in the 2X4's.

A few months ago, I purchased a clamping workstation from Harbor Freight. I really liked it. Just clamp a board into the workstation and pull out the nails. Very fast and easy. Unfortunately, the quality of that Harbor Freight clamping workstation was not very good, and the unit failed after 4 weeks. The metal on the movable clamping vise actually bent. Since the unit was still within the 90 day Harbor Freight return window, I got a full refund. My initial 5-star review of the Harbor Freight clamping workstation was edited down to 1-star and not recommended for purchase.

Don't buy this workstation from Harbor Freight....

Anyways, today I'm outside breaking down pallets and now I realize how much I miss those features of the clamping workstation. So, now I am considering getting the more expensive original Rockwell Jawhorse. According to the specs, both units have about the same specs. However, the Harbor Freight unit only has a 90-day warranty with no option to buy an extended warranty. The Rockwell Jawhorse comes with a standard 5-year warranty. I'm thinking Rockwell is using better metal if they can warranty it for that long.

If anyone has actual experience with the Rockwell Jawhorse, I would love to hear your experience, good or bad. Honestly, the Harbor Freight Jawhorse knockoff had a few improvements over the original Rockwell model. Most notably are the legs and foot pads. But the real reason to get these units it for the clamping feature. And I know for sure that the Harbor Freight clamping workstation bent the metal and failed to clamp after only 4 weeks of use. I have never seen a review on the Rockwell Jawhorse describing failure of the clamping vise metal bending and no longer clamping.

Unfortunately, nobody in town sells the Rockwell Jawhorse so I have to order it online, probably from Amazon. I just got a notice from Amazon that the Rockwell Jawhorse is on sale at 22% off at $171.60 - ($48) from normal price. Compare that to the normal Home Depot online price of $231.85, the Amazon price is now about $59 less. That, plus I get an additional 5% off on Amazon for using my Amazon Prime Visa card and I also have some prior Amazon reward money that needs to be used.

This would be purely a "want" tool, and not a "must have" tool. I got along fine without a Jawhorse for all my life, but now that I know what I am missing with all those features that just make things easier, I'm thinking it might be time for an early birthday gift to myself.

For those of you that might like to geek out with me on some stats, the Rockwell Jawhorse on sale at $172 with a 5-year warranty comes out to about $34 per year, whereas the Harbor Freight model (currently on sale for $99) has only a 90-day warranty which comes out to $33 per month! Sometimes when I buy tools that I know I will be using all the time, I consider the cost per year over the warranty period rather than just the initial purchase price. It's just another way to look at the value of a new purchase and factor that into your consideration.

If anyone has experience with these types of workstations, please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[Smokerbill]

snip...and I also have some prior Amazon reward money that needs to be used...snip

Don't use your Amazon rewards money for Amazon purchases. You won't get the 5% savings on whatever the rewards amount is. (my Amazon card only gives me 3% off of Amazon purchases!?!?)

Anyway, use the rewards money to pay down the card balance, then use your card to charge the full amount of the purchase. You'll come out ahead moneywise.

https://www.lifesavvy.com/18676/sto...ard-points-on-purchases-for-better-cash-back/

Edited to add:

I just checked on why I was only getting 3% back. Found I had to verify my card number in my Amazon account. NOW I'm getting 5% back. Thanks for mentioning the 5%!

 

[gtaus]

Anyway, use the rewards money to pay down the card balance, then use your card to charge the full amount of the purchase. You'll come out ahead moneywise.

Never thought of doing that. I'm on autopay so the balance is paid in full every month. I'll have to see how to apply those reward points to the credit card balance. Thanks for the tip and the link.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Whatever works. LOL
But they'll find their way out again.
Eventually I'll put up a "real" run for them, chicken proof but not predator proof. They already have a 110 square foot secure run, but it's totally in the shade. And they just love to run free. I'll probably get a 150' roll of 5 or 6 foot 1" hex chicken wire. Make something like a 25'x50' run out of it.

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What beautiful land you have there!

 

[Smokerbill]

What beautiful land you have there!

Thank you!

 

[gtaus]

A couple of days ago I posted that I was considering buying a new Rockwell Jawhorse to replace the Harbor Freight Jawhorse knock-off that I had, really loved, but broke after only a short period of time. It's currently on sale for $172 on Amazon, but locally at Home Depot they sell for something like $238. I did not get any response or feedback from anybody on the original RockWell Jawhorse and whether or not they like it.

The RockWell Jawhorse is still on my short list, but I decided to take out my 20+ year old Black & Decker Workmate 225 (since it's already paid for) and put it into service for some pallet breakdowns. My current project was to break down 6 pallets so I could salvage the 2X4's to build a couple new pallet wood raised beds.

Here is a picture of the Workmate 225...

Well, I got the job done just fine using my old Workmate 225. Mainly, I put the 2X4's into the clamp to hold the 2X4 down tight while I pull out the remaining nails. The Workmate 225 is not as fast or efficient as the Jawhorse type of clamp, but I was able to get the job done.

IMHO, the Jawhorse type of clamping workstation is a big step improvement over the Workmate type of workstation. I don't remember how much I paid for the Workmate 225 20+ years ago, but currently they are selling for $99.00 at lots of places.

IF I had to buy one or the other today for the first time, I would recommend the Jawhorse type if you can afford it. But expect to pay about twice as much, or more, than the Workmate type.

Also, beware that you can find less expensive type of Workmate workstations. I have a couple I bought years ago that I got on Black Friday sales for $10.00 each. But they are really light duty and if you hammer on them, they break. Ask me how I know! The original Black & Decker Workmate 225 is much stronger. And you can get even stronger Workmate models with more capacity. The Jawhorse is a beast and you can pound on that all day without worry.

Anyways, I got my pallets broken down to bits and pieces and pretty soon I hope to show you some more pallet wood raised bed builds. The weather is really hot for the next few days, but maybe after that I will feel like working on the raised beds. No big hurry, they will not be used until next year anyways.

Later...

 

[Smokerbill]

I removed all the chicken fences that I built with pallets from around the garden. I decided that letting my chickens run loose all day while trying to contain them to a certain area is a work in futility. And the deer got into my garden a couple nights ago so I had to get my electric fence set up, and the wooden pallet fences were in the way.

My chickens have a secure run a little over 100 square feet that they're in for now, but an additional run is in the plans. It will probably be surrounded with a 6' welded wire fence.

To get the most area out of a 100' roll of wire the enclosure would need to be made into a circle: 795 square feet. A square would be 625 square feet. Neither of those shapes would fit my yard unless I built a long chicken tunnel to the existing run.

So, I'm still figuring out how to connect the current run to the new run, while getting the largest run size possible with a 100' roll of fence.

All the pallet pieces from the fence I took down will make some nice little shelters and shade spots in the run.

The electric fence did it's job last night. No deer ate veggies.

 

[gtaus]

I removed all the chicken fences that I built with pallets from around the garden.

One of the things I really like about some of my pallet projects is that I have no problem taking them down or tearing them apart if they don't work out like I had hoped. Usually, I find ways to improve a pallet project after I built it, and then version 2.0 is even better. I'm kind of on that path with my pallet wood raised beds, with version 2.0 being faster to build and much less complicated.

You would hope that at a certain age you would have all the answers, but I find myself learning new things all the time. Fortunately, I rather enjoy finding new ways to improve my projects, or even tear them down as no longer needed in your case.

Looks like you are building some serious fencing to keep the deer out of your garden. Best wishes on that because I know how persistent deer can be.

 

[gtaus]

Cross posting this from the gardening thread...​

TJAnonymous​

Crossing the Road​

• 

Feb 29, 20204,62635,039901Central Arkansas
@gtaus - came across this doghouse made from pallets on Craigslist and thought of you. I'm actually thinking about making a varient of this idea for my goats.

 

[gtaus]

@TJAnonymous, thanks for the doghouse picture. Maybe @Hedgeland Farms will build one like this. Obviously call it the Puppy Palace, I would think. One lucky dog there with its own sun deck for chilling out on a nice day. Make it a bit taller and it would be a great playhouse for minors of an appropriate age.

Come to think of it, for those of us of a certain age, it might just be the perfect getaway if/when Dear Wife sends you "to the doghouse." Just add some internet access and mount a small TV in there! Heck, I've even got a mini fridge if needed.