Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Here's the deal. The wood is from broken pallets. PLANKS that have broken off of pallets go in the wood bin. The one down side is the nails are pretty much bent all to heck and likely can't be removed. It turned me off for a little while...then I decided imma take some and try it. I took all I could find over the wkend and brought them home.

The result was a lot of wood with a lot of bent nails sticking out.

Here goes nothing...

The minors and I just followed the bend and hammered them down against the wood plank

Well, that's one way to solve the problem with bent nails. I won't say that I never did that once or twice. There are ways to remove bent nails, of course, but if pounding them down into the boards works for you, then go for it. Just want to say to be sure to pound them all the way into the wood so you don't snag yourself later on an exposed bent nail.

I will continue to take broken off planks from work and finishing patching. This pile will get me one side and a touch on the other. The front wall was covered by left over OSB so that doesn't have to be patched.

I wish I had a good way to lengthen short cut off boards and pieces. My cut off bin is overflowing with good wood pieces, just too short for any of my current projects. Too good to throw out, not big enough for my current projects.

We will be attaching the boards tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures on how you use your short boards for patching.

Speaking of short cut off pieces, my Harbor Freight wood workbench was built using cut off pieces of wood that are finger jointed together to make solid, useable lumber. I think the workbench looks pretty nice. Good to see that all those small pieces were able to be used for something good.

Here is a picture of how they made that wood workbench....

If you look closely, you can see they used short pieces of wood and ended up making something I consider really nice. I don't have the tools to make those finger joints, but I like the idea of using cut off pieces and making longer boards out of them.

Come to think of it, even my new wood workbench that I bought is still made out of reclaimed wood!

 

[gtaus]

Made a little progress on my modular workbench build today. I bought some dollies for the wheels from HF this morning, got my 1/2 bolts, washers, and nuts from the Fleet Supply store, and got some wood for the bench tops from Home Depot.

Well, more compromises on the benchtop wood idea. Home Depot did not have the 3/4 inch plywood that I wanted. What they had in stock was beyond my budget. So I talked to the guy at the Pro-Desk and asked for some alternative suggestions. One of his suggestions was using OSB board. After considering my options with what wood they had in stock, I ended up buying a 1/2 inch 4X8' sheet of OSB, which they cut into four 2X4' pieces for my workbench tops. Not exactly what I wanted, but I think it will do just fine. If I find that the 1/2 inch OSB is not strong enough for the benchtops, I will either add more support under the top or just double up the 1/2 inch board top and make it a full 1 inch top - which would be stronger than the 3/4 inch plywood I wanted to buy.

In any case, I now have benchtop wood that is flat and smooth and ready to finish off those builds. If the OSB benchtop does not work out for me, I will just replace the benchtops sometime in the future.

 

[gtaus]

I opted to try and make a modular workbench design out of pallet wood parts from a YouTube video I posted earlier, but I did find some other good YouTube videos on making workbenches using intact pallets themselves.

This first one uses just one pallet, cut in half, for the benchtop and the lower shelf. Additional pallet wood was used as fillers, leg supports, and drawers. But if you just want a small workbench (about 24X40 inches), this is one design that I really liked....

This next video uses 2 full pallets, and some additional wood for the legs and trim, to make a larger workbench. Another simple design that may be totally functional in a person's shop. If interested, check it out....

 

[gtaus]

The result was a lot of wood with a lot of bent nails sticking out.

Here goes nothing...

The minors and I just followed the bend and hammered them down against the wood plank

Good enough. But, if you want to consider other options of dealing with bent nails, here is a technique that I use myself on removing stubborn bent nails and it works for me. <1 min YouTube video on removing bent nails...

Sometimes you actually need to remove a bent nail from the lumber, and pounding it back into the wood is not an option. Anyway, I have used this technique myself and it works. Best of all, it only requires a pair of pliers and a hammer which you probably already have.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Good enough. But, if you want to consider other options of dealing with bent nails, here is a technique that I use myself on removing stubborn bent nails and it works for me. <1 min YouTube video on removing bent nails...

Sometimes you actually need to remove a bent nail from the lumber, and pounding it back into the wood is not an option. Anyway, I have used this technique myself and it works. Best of all, it only requires a pair of pliers and a hammer which you probably already have.

Ooooo I like this idea!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Looking forward to seeing the pictures on how you use your short boards for patching.

These boards are the length of a pallet. They are just ones that broke off the pallet. I don't take the broken pieces just full length. The wood isn't all in fantastic amazing shape but it'll work for what I need it to do.

 

[gtaus]

These boards are the length of a pallet. They are just ones that broke off the pallet. I don't take the broken pieces just full length.

Oh, I misunderstood. Nice progress on the Turkey Tower.

 

[chickengr]

Good enough. But, if you want to consider other options of dealing with bent nails, here is a technique that I use myself on removing stubborn bent nails and it works for me. <1 min YouTube video on removing bent nails...

Sometimes you actually need to remove a bent nail from the lumber, and pounding it back into the wood is not an option. Anyway, I have used this technique myself and it works. Best of all, it only requires a pair of pliers and a hammer which you probably already have.

that's how I do. sometimes there are too many bent nails and it takes hours to remove them.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Oh, I misunderstood. Nice progress on the Turkey Tower.

Thanks, we added the boards today. I'll have to get more but we got a side and a half done!!

sometimes there are too many bent nails and it takes hours to remove them.

This is kinda where I was at. We removed ones that were hindering the application of the boards. Other we left. None have tips so it seems, they are straight, all concealed and not gonna injure the turkeys or the tender.


I am making due with what's around me simply bc I DO NOT want to pour a ton of money into another build. I think it's coming along great personally...and its been fun to do with each other.

 

[gtaus]

sometimes there are too many bent nails and it takes hours to remove them.

Well, if you had lots of boards with nails in them that you wanted to remove, then it might be in your interest to invest $54.00 in something like the Air Locker AP700 Heavy Duty Professional Air Punch Nailer. I personally don't use one because I don't have that many boards that need nails removed, and, I guess I have been using a hammer and pliers all my life to do the job.

Here is a good YouTube review and demonstration of the Air Locker AP700 in use. It looks like a great tool to save time, but, like I said, I really don't have that many boards with nails in them that I am willing to invest in that tool at this time. If someone is skill challenged in hammering out nails, and bent nails, then maybe this Air Locker has added value.

If you truly have hours of nails to remove, this tool would knock it down to minutes. If time is money for you, it would not take very long to pay for itself. As for me, I put on a nice radio program, audiobook, or music and spend some quality time hammering out the nails releasing a little tension in the process. Pounding nails out of pallet wood or reclaimed wood is sometimes therapeutic! At least for me.

 

[gtaus]

I am making due with what's around me simply bc I DO NOT want to pour a ton of money into another build. I think it's coming along great personally...and its been fun to do with each other.

Sounds like a win-win on all aspects. Saving money and enjoying the work that you are doing. I bet the minors are learning a lot in the process. Not just in building things, but in the fact that you don't have to spend lots of money on some things to get lots of use out of them.

The Turkey Tower is coming along nicely. I like the rustic pallet wood look, myself. Adding the additional boards to fill the gaps makes everything look even more finished. Very nice.

Thanks for the picture updates. Can't wait to see what you do for the roof!