Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Clearance on Central Machinery 9" Band Saw at HF

I just picked up a Central Machinery 9" band saw at Harbor Freight on clearance for $84.00. I got the last one at our store. Here is a picture of the box...

That Central Machinery band saw is being replaced by the Bauer 9" band saw selling for $180.00, which, as far as I can tell, is the same saw just under the Bauer brand name.

Of course, I read the reviews on the Central Machinery before I bought it, and it was rated 4.5/5 stars at full retail price. Guys were really happy on the performance given the price of the saw. Yes, you can spend a lot more money and get a much better band saw, but most of the stuff I do is pallet wood projects. This saw should be more than adequate for my needs.

My frugal strategy: I had a band saw on my short "To-buy List" for about a year, but I just was not willing to pay full retail price. Patience paid off for me. I ended up getting my band saw for about 50% off on clearance. If you know what you want, and the price point at which you are willing to pay, it's really sweet when you come across a deal even better than you had hoped for.

Did I really need a band saw? Well, I don't know for sure. There have been times when I wished I had a band saw but used other tools to get the job done. I guess I'll be looking for projects to make with a band saw now that I have one. Some of the shop guys I talk with use their band saws a lot. So, I hope I find it just as useful in my shop.

Heading into my retirement years, I am building up my shop tools and experimenting with them. I'm at a point in my life where I have both the free time and money to enjoy a few hobbies. And I do enjoy using my hands and making stuff after most of my life pushing paper in office jobs, if you know what I mean.

To put costs in perspective, Dear Wife and I went out to a new Mexican restaurant in town. It was $40 plus tip for our meal. Yeah, the food was good, but it was only one meal. I would rather have that $40 for shop tools and supplies that I can use to make things of value to me. I'm not a big fan of eating out. I'm OK with a frozen burrito that has fresh lettuce, sour cream, and salsa on top.

 

[Sally PB]

Trying to make lemonade out of lemons, I am thinking now I will have tomatoes coming into harvest at different times this year. Staggered harvesting might work to my benefit with those topped off tomato plants maybe a few weeks behind the others.

Let us know how it works.

Making lemonade out of lemons is how a lot of great discoveries are made.

 

[gtaus]

Let us know how it works.

Making lemonade out of lemons is how a lot of great discoveries are made.

It's been a week and a half since I had to restart, or fix, my Super Sweet 100 tomato plants that the tops got eaten by the deer. This morning, I was outside looking at the plants to see how they were doing. Honestly, if you did not know what they looked like 10 days ago, you would think they all were planted at the same time. The topped off tomato plants are almost as tall as the tomato plants that were untouched.

I guess I got lucky. They are the indeterminant tomato varieties, so it appears they can recover from a deer attack better than my determinant tomato plants might. I'm glad I did not give up on them.

Thanks for asking.

 

[Smokerbill]

Update on the squash growing on top of the pallet wood chicken run bedding compost bin. They are still plugging along with the vines about ready to spill over the side.

I use my PEX watering wand to water a lot of things. Makes it possible to easily hand water at the bases of garden plants without getting leaves wet. I watered the squash plants at their bases this afternoon, plus I forced the wand down into the woodchips about a foot deep and shot a lot of water into the middle of the pile.

ETA: The green and black fitting connected to the brass valve is a garden hose fitting intended for 1/2" drip irrigation line.

 

[gtaus]

I use my PEX watering wand to water a lot of things. Makes it possible to easily hand water at the bases of garden plants without getting leaves wet. I watered the squash plants at their bases this afternoon, plus I forced the wand down into the woodchips about a foot deep and shot a lot of water into the middle of the pile.

I bet that watering wand comes in handy. Did you make it yourself? If so, can you tell us how you made it? I think I want one for myself!

FWIW, I had purchased a couple of watering wands that worked great for a year or two, then they both broke. They had those heads that you could rotate to a number of different spray patterns. I was really happy with them until they broke. But I don't want to buy any new ones based on my experience with them breaking so soon.

Here is a picture of the type of wands I had. Like I said, both broke in only a couple of years. I don't remember the exact brand I had, but they turned out to be short lived junk.

It looks like your PEX watering wand might be a better option and last a lot longer. I am assuming it is just a flexible pipe attached to the garden hose, with no fancy spray patterns. Sometimes the simpler option is the better choice.

 

[fuzzi]

I bet that watering wand comes in handy. Did you make it yourself? If so, can you tell us how you made it? I think I want one for myself!

FWIW, I had purchased a couple of watering wands that worked great for a year or two, then they both broke. They had those heads that you could rotate to a number of different spray patterns. I was really happy with them until they broke. But I don't want to buy any new ones based on my experience with them breaking so soon.

Here is a picture of the type of wands I had. Like I said, both broke in only a couple of years. I don't remember the exact brand I had, but they turned out to be short lived junk.

View attachment 4176444

It looks like your PEX watering wand might be a better option and last a lot longer. I am assuming it is just a flexible pipe attached to the garden hose, with no fancy spray patterns. Sometimes the simpler option is the better choice.

I have a couple of those that I bought at Aldi's for about $6. One is on its second season, so I'm content.

 

[Smokerbill]

I bet that watering wand comes in handy. Did you make it yourself? If so, can you tell us how you made it? I think I want one for myself!

FWIW, I had purchased a couple of watering wands that worked great for a year or two, then they both broke. They had those heads that you could rotate to a number of different spray patterns. I was really happy with them until they broke. But I don't want to buy any new ones based on my experience with them breaking so soon.

Here is a picture of the type of wands I had. Like I said, both broke in only a couple of years. I don't remember the exact brand I had, but they turned out to be short lived junk.

View attachment 4176444

It looks like your PEX watering wand might be a better option and last a lot longer. I am assuming it is just a flexible pipe attached to the garden hose, with no fancy spray patterns. Sometimes the simpler option is the better choice.

I made it from things I already had on hand... a hose-end valve, a drip irrigation fitting and a section of straight 1/2" pex pipe. No fancy spray fitting on the end, just a straight tube with flow rate adjusted by using the valve.

 

[gtaus]

I made it from things I already had on hand... a hose-end valve, a drip irrigation fitting and a section of straight 1/2" pex pipe. No fancy spray fitting on the end, just a straight tube with flow rate adjusted by using the valve.

View attachment 4176612View attachment 4176613

Thanks for the info. That's what I needed.

 

[Smokerbill]

Thanks for the info. That's what I needed.

You might have one of these laying around somewhere. A female garden hose fitting would work as well as the drip irrigation fitting I used. And the hose end valve is nice to have but you could just set the flow rate at the hose bib and skip the additional valve.

If I remember correctly I had to heat the PEX a little with my heat gun in order to soften it and force it onto the hose barb.

 

[NanaK]

If I remember correctly I had to heat the PEX a little with my heat gun in order to soften it and force it onto the hose barb.

Sometimes a couple drops of Dawn dish soap helps to slip these into place.