Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Sally PB]

NICE haul!

 

[gtaus]

NICE haul!

Thanks. I still get a bit excited when I find a stash of extra-long pallets, like those long shipping flats or whatever they are called. And I have been lucky enough to find some of those pallets that use Torx head screws to put them together. They are so easy to take apart and I usually get a handful of good Torx screws to use in a future project.

For anyone who does not know the difference between a Torx head screw and a standard Philips head like on a drywall screw, here is a nice Google picture I found...

The Torx head screws (some people call them star heads) are a better design in that they don't strip out very often. You can use and reuse them a number of times and they seem as good as new.

I mainly use the Philips head drywall screws because they are good value for the money. But sometimes I will strip out a drywall screw head when driving it into the wood. You can reuse drywall screws, but each time you work with those screws the heads get a bit looser.

I consider it a good value if I can use and reuse a drywall screw two or three times. The Torx head screws seem to hold up many times longer of reuse. I guess that is why they are more expensive.

Just to compare the cost of the two different types of screws, here is something to consider...

Compared to drywall screws, both 3-inch screws in 5 lb boxes...

You can see that the Torx head screws are almost 3X more expensive than the standard drywall screws I use on most of my pallet projects. But if I can salvage Torx head screws from a pallet find, that is really nice. I got about another 1 lb of Torx head screws after pallet disassembly from my last run with the pallets I picked up. That's just a nice bonus for me.

Although I have saved buckets full of pallet wood nails, I mainly use screws in my pallet projects. They are just so much faster to use to put a project together. And, if I need to take something apart, there is no comparison at how much easier it is to take out the screws. Lots of my pallet projects are proof of concept ideas, and it's nice to put something together with screws and take it apart if the idea does not work out for me.

I just can't seem to toss out those reclaimed pallet wood nails because I grew up with my Great Depression era grandfather who taught me his life lessons. We never threw out a bent nail back in the day. You always pounded it straight and reused it again. Of course, we did not have the cordless drills and impact drivers back then that make using screws so easy today. I know times have changed, but it still feels wrong to me to throw out used nails!

 

[Molpet]

Great Depression era grandfather who taught me his life lessons. We never threw out a bent nail back in the day. You always pounded it straight and reused it again.

My dad taught me that too. Spent a lot of time straightening and using bent nails.... When I was cleaning their basement I found a few half kegs of brand new but rusted out nails from the 50s when the house was built. I felt pretty silly for all those nails I could have used instead of smashing my fingers...

 

[gtaus]

My dad taught me that too. Spent a lot of time straightening and using bent nails.... When I was cleaning their basement I found a few half kegs of brand new but rusted out nails from the 50s when the house was built. I felt pretty silly for all those nails I could have used instead of smashing my fingers...

Well, I'm not saying that we never bought new nails, but back in the 1960's when I was a kid, we built a lake cabin on a location without running water or electricity. Everything we did was using manual tools. It took a long time. We did not get any electricity at our cabin until the late 1970's.
You bet we switched to using power tools at that point!

Back then, however, it was a pretty big deal for grandpa to take us into town to buy new hardware, like nails. Of course, I always wanted to ride along because it almost meant a stop at the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone before we left town.

Memories...

But, yeah, I did my fair share of smashing my fingers trying to straighten out bent nails so we could use them on our projects.

I don't have a couple of half kegs full of used pallet wood nails, but I have maybe a couple ice cream pails worth of nails I pulled from pallets. I have started sorting them out by size and if they are bent, or not, and putting them into my storage cases I get from Harbor Freight...

They often go on sale for $10 and $7 respectively. I like the separate removable bins for sorting out the used nails and screws I save. It makes it easier for me to grab a bin of the size of nails I need. In fact, earlier this summer, I worked on a pallet project and used a small bin full of used nails.

It always feels good to me to reuse hardware the old school method, but honestly, most of the time I prefer to use my drill with screws and my brad nailer to shoot nails because it is so much faster to complete a project.

Here is an idea that someone might find helpful. I almost always predrill a hole in the wood before I drive in a new screw. It helps to prevent the end of the board from splitting. However, if you use old nails and/or screws that might not be 100% straight, a predrilled hole will force the nail/screw to go in straight. That's pretty nice and a trick I have used many times. It's almost like using new hardware at that point.

 

[gtaus]

PSA on Safety Glasses

I got all the pallet wood out of my utility trailer this morning, so I took another trip to our Bobcat dealer to salvage some more of those long pallets while they still have them. Because those pallets are so long, and heavy, I take a bucket full of tools to disassemble the pallets on site. I also brought along my reciprocating and circular saw in case I needed them.

Whenever I am working with power tools, I always try to protect myself with ear and eye protection. As I was using the circular saw this afternoon, cutting into some boards on one of those pallets, I got a small face full of chips fly up into my face. I could hear the chips hitting my safety glasses.

I cannot tell you how thankful I was that I was wearing my safety glasses today! I got through that experience with no damage. It might not make an interesting post, but I think we need spread the word when our safety gear prevents a bad accident from happening. Too often, we only hear about bad accidents after the fact and the damage that was done because we do not use our personal protective equipment like we should.

FWIW, I have a pair of tinted saftey glasses I use outside when working in the full sunshine. They look like this, only a different brand....

I also have a number of less expensive clear safety glasses that I use indoors when working in the garage or outdoors when I don't need or want a tinted glass. I personally buy the safety glasses with the side shields.

I recently got smart and bought some lanyards for my glasses. I bought a couple from the Dollar Tree, but if you need a 6 pack, here is a link to Amazon that sells lanyards even cheaper...

I really like the lanyards because when I don't need my safety glasses, I can take them off and let them hang around my neck, ready to use next time I need them. In the past, I would often put my safety glasses down, might forget where I put them, or maybe it was just "too much effort" to go back and get them for one quick cut. That's when accidents happen!

Anyways, hoping and wishing that you don't have an accident is NOT protecting yourself. My safety glasses took a face full of wood chips for me today and I am so thankful I had them on.

 

[Molpet]

PSA on Safety Glasses

I got all the pallet wood out of my utility trailer this morning, so I took another trip to our Bobcat dealer to salvage some more of those long pallets while they still have them. Because those pallets are so long, and heavy, I take a bucket full of tools to disassemble the pallets on site. I also brought along my reciprocating and circular saw in case I needed them.

Whenever I am working with power tools, I always try to protect myself with ear and eye protection. As I was using the circular saw this afternoon, cutting into some boards on one of those pallets, I got a small face full of chips fly up into my face. I could hear the chips hitting my safety glasses.

I cannot tell you how thankful I was that I was wearing my safety glasses today! I got through that experience with no damage. It might not make an interesting post, but I think we need spread the word when our safety gear prevents a bad accident from happening. Too often, we only hear about bad accidents after the fact and the damage that was done because we do not use our personal protective equipment like we should.

FWIW, I have a pair of tinted saftey glasses I use outside when working in the full sunshine. They look like this, only a different brand....

View attachment 3949631
I also have a number of less expensive clear safety glasses that I use indoors when working in the garage or outdoors when I don't need or want a tinted glass. I personally buy the safety glasses with the side shields.

I recently got smart and bought some lanyards for my glasses. I bought a couple from the Dollar Tree, but if you need a 6 pack, here is a link to Amazon that sells lanyards even cheaper...

View attachment 3949634

I really like the lanyards because when I don't need my safety glasses, I can take them off and let them hang around my neck, ready to use next time I need them. In the past, I would often put my safety glasses down, might forget where I put them, or maybe it was just "too much effort" to go back and get them for one quick cut. That's when accidents happen!

Anyways, hoping and wishing that you don't have an accident is NOT protecting yourself. My safety glasses took a face full of wood chips for me today and I am so thankful I had them on.

I have started wearing them when mowing after then wind blew up what the mower was shooting out. Ground dry Dust, walnuts, grass tore my cornea. Very painful. 3 trips to the eye dr over $100 each trip, because of my deductible....2 prescriptions. a week of sleepless nights.

I have non rx bifocal ones. Cheaters

 

[gtaus]

I have started wearing them when mowing after then wind blew up what the mower was shooting out. Ground dry Dust, walnuts, grass tore my cornea. Very painful. 3 trips to the eye dr over $100 each trip, because of my deductible....2 prescriptions. a week of sleepless nights.

I have non rx bifocal ones. Cheaters

Sorry to hear about your misadventure. That's exactly why I posted my PSA on safety glasses. I don't know how bad I could have been hurt when those wood chips flew into my face, but my safety glasses took the hit and kept me from getting anything in my eyes. And, as you may know, it all happened so fast that there would have been no way to turn away or close my eyes if I was not wearing safety glasses. My story could have been a bad one, like yours.

I always wear safety glasses and ear protection when outside mowing grass on my riders. You just never know when a breeze is going to pick up and blow everything back in your face. Early in the spring, when everything is dead and dry from the winter, I will also wear a dust mask.

I mentioned elsewhere that I use my smart phone more as a MP3 player than a cell phone. I use the Bluetooth connection on my headphones and cue up a radio program, music, or an audiobook on my smart phone to listen to while I work. Here are the work headphones I have used for the past ~5 years...

I will state that I use my work headphones almost all the time. Listening to an audiobook or a recorded radio program while I work really passes the time. Plus, if I am outside mowing a lot, my ears no longer get fatigued from hearing the mower engine blasting away. Ear protection really works!

I paid extra for the Bluetooth feature, but of course you can save a lot of money buying basic safety ear protection without the extra Bluetooth and/or radio features. For me, I was willing to pay the extra for the Bluetooth function. I have another pair of work headphones that also have a radio built in. I actually like listening to something in my headphones while I work. Even when not around noisy equipment, I still wear my headphones and listen to some recording I have saved on my smart phone.

Again, sorry to hear about your accident. But thanks for sharing and warning others about what can happen before you know it.

 

[fuzzi]

PSA on Safety Glasses

I got all the pallet wood out of my utility trailer this morning, so I took another trip to our Bobcat dealer to salvage some more of those long pallets while they still have them. Because those pallets are so long, and heavy, I take a bucket full of tools to disassemble the pallets on site. I also brought along my reciprocating and circular saw in case I needed them.

Whenever I am working with power tools, I always try to protect myself with ear and eye protection. As I was using the circular saw this afternoon, cutting into some boards on one of those pallets, I got a small face full of chips fly up into my face. I could hear the chips hitting my safety glasses.

I cannot tell you how thankful I was that I was wearing my safety glasses today! I got through that experience with no damage. It might not make an interesting post, but I think we need spread the word when our safety gear prevents a bad accident from happening. Too often, we only hear about bad accidents after the fact and the damage that was done because we do not use our personal protective equipment like we should.

FWIW, I have a pair of tinted saftey glasses I use outside when working in the full sunshine. They look like this, only a different brand....

View attachment 3949631
I also have a number of less expensive clear safety glasses that I use indoors when working in the garage or outdoors when I don't need or want a tinted glass. I personally buy the safety glasses with the side shields.

I recently got smart and bought some lanyards for my glasses. I bought a couple from the Dollar Tree, but if you need a 6 pack, here is a link to Amazon that sells lanyards even cheaper...

View attachment 3949634

I really like the lanyards because when I don't need my safety glasses, I can take them off and let them hang around my neck, ready to use next time I need them. In the past, I would often put my safety glasses down, might forget where I put them, or maybe it was just "too much effort" to go back and get them for one quick cut. That's when accidents happen!

Anyways, hoping and wishing that you don't have an accident is NOT protecting yourself. My safety glasses took a face full of wood chips for me today and I am so thankful I had them on.

If you ever go to a health fair or a local event they often have stuff like glasses lanyards on the giveaway table, with pharma brand names printed on the side. Free is good.

 

[gtaus]

If you ever go to a health fair or a local event they often have stuff like glasses lanyards on the giveaway table, with pharma brand names printed on the side. Free is good.

I got my eyeglass lanyards at the Dollar Tree, but free would be even better. I live in a rural area, and we don't get many health or other local events like that, but next time we do I'll be sure to look out for any free lanyards.

I was going to buy another eyeglass lanyard at the Dollar Tree last week, but all they had left was one hot pink lanyard. I asked the manager if they had any other colors, but she said that was the last one and did not know when they would get a new shipment. She asked me, "Are you man enough to wear pink?" I responded, "Nope!" Maybe I'm just getting too old, but this old guy does not wear pink - ever!

In any event, I really like wearing a lanyard on my safety glasses because they can just hang on my neck when I don't need them and then they are readily available to me to put on when I do need them. I can tell you not having to run around looking for my safety glasses has meant I wear my safety glasses a lot more than I used to. That's a good thing.

 

[Sally PB]

all they had left was one hot pink lanyard.

Hot pink makes it easier to find. Just sayin.