Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Hedgeland Farms]

Christmas came early for you, I guess! I wish I had "someones" like that in my life.

It was very nice of them!!! They could have charged me a decent amount of money. My husband and I both work with the couple.

I really don't know if steel wool would work or not. I am sure hardware cloth would work, but we all know that hardware cloth is rather expensive.

Have you considered filling those areas with pallet wood? I would think it would take a mouse a very long time to chew threw 3 inches of pallet wood filler. And, if they did, you could just replace with more pallet wood. Probably buy you enough time to see if rodents are even going to be a problem for you

Good thought on the pallet wood. . We are surrounded by fields mice will be an issue as far as I can see, bc they are an issue for us. My current coop or run hasn't seen any issues, however it is a raised coop, but I do keep my food in the run. So I am not sure. I may just go with your idea and see.... I plan on fencing my 625sq ft run with hardware cloth sooooo looking to cut some cost.

 

[gtaus]

Good thought on the pallet wood. . We are surrounded by fields mice will be an issue as far as I can see, bc they are an issue for us. My current coop or run hasn't seen any issues, however it is a raised coop, but I do keep my food in the run. So I am not sure. I may just go with your idea and see.... I plan on fencing my 625sq ft run with hardware cloth sooooo looking to cut some cost.

Chickens are omnivores...

Those field mice don't have an easy pass in the chicken run or yard!

I don't know if hardware cloth would stop field mice anyway unless everything was covered, including the top of the chicken run because mice can climb, and the ground, because mice can dig. I could not afford hardware cloth for that level of protection.

I went with 2X4 fencing in the chicken run to save money. It keeps out the dogs and cats in the daytime. At night I lock the chickens into a Fort Knox coop. But I really don't have much of a mouse problem. Even if you keep your feed outside in the run, maybe you can put it in a hanging feeder suspended by a wire which would make it mostly rodent proof. And, taking in the feed every night and not leaving it out to attract rodents would help.

I have nothing against hardware cloth. I use it in a lot of things around the house. I just know that's it really expensive compared to alternatives. But sometimes it is the best option.

Anyway, when I read your post, I looked at all the scrap lumber I have saved and just thought it would be good to use that wood as filler in those voids and maybe prevent, or significantly slow down, any mice from chewing their way into the coop.

 

[Appalachian homestead]

here is a microwave hutch I built from pallet wood.

 

[gtaus]

View attachment 3349855here is a microwave hutch I built from pallet wood.

That fits in perfectly with your drapes and overall theme of that corner! Really nicely done. I love seeing some inside pallet projects that you guys are sharing. Thanks.

BTW, my outdoor pallet wood potting bench was built with a similar design. Totally functional in my case. Not as good looking. But solidly built. Ended up using the potting bench later this summer and fall for banging and cutting wood for other projects. Made a great outdoor workstation.

 

[Sally PB]

here is a microwave hutch I built from pallet wood.

NICE!!

 

[chickengr]

Can you reuse pallet wood nails you removed? How do you straighten out a bent nail?

On my to-do list is reusing some of the nails I removed from my pallet wood breakdowns. I have half a bucket full of nails with some potential to be reused. Is it worth your time and effort to "fix" those bent nails so they can be reused? Probably not, but I would still like to complete an entire pallet wood project using 100% reclaimed nails or screws. Anyways, I found a short YouTube video on how to straighten out bent nails just like the way grandpa taught me.

So, do you think it's worth your time and effort to salvage those bent nails?

Back in the day, I did not know that you could buy straight nails from a store! Grandpa had us pounding out all those nails and reusing them. You would not make a trip to town just to buy nails from the hardware store. And none of our builds ever fell apart! Just wondering if anyone here still pounds out bent nails and reuses them in your projects. Later....

if the bent nails are good quality it is worth time and effort to salvage them. unfortunately many of them are poor quality and cannot be used even when brand new.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Christmas came early for you, I guess! I wish I had "someones" like that in my life.



I really don't know if steel wool would work or not. I am sure hardware cloth would work, but we all know that hardware cloth is rather expensive.

Have you considered filling those areas with pallet wood? I would think it would take a mouse a very long time to chew threw 3 inches of pallet wood filler. And, if they did, you could just replace with more pallet wood. Probably buy you enough time to see if rodents are even going to be a problem for you.

I had a few mice move into my chicken coop this winter. Not a big deal for me because my feeder is suspended on a chain up off the floor. I don't think any mice can get to the feed. They might have to scrounge around on the floor looking for bits and pieces that might have fallen out of the feeder and that the chickens did not eat. I have one of those tincat mouse traps that catches mice alive. If I had to trap mice in the coop, that is what I would use. No snapping traps around the chickens.

View attachment 3349357

I use tomcats too. I put them directly under the chicken feeders with a cover to keep the chickens from fouling the doors with all the dirt they kick around. Love how well they work, except we seem to have some mice that won't go in them.

Can you reuse pallet wood nails you removed? How do you straighten out a bent nail?

On my to-do list is reusing some of the nails I removed from my pallet wood breakdowns. I have half a bucket full of nails with some potential to be reused. Is it worth your time and effort to "fix" those bent nails so they can be reused? Probably not, but I would still like to complete an entire pallet wood project using 100% reclaimed nails or screws. Anyways, I found a short YouTube video on how to straighten out bent nails just like the way grandpa taught me.

So, do you think it's worth your time and effort to salvage those bent nails?

Back in the day, I did not know that you could buy straight nails from a store! Grandpa had us pounding out all those nails and reusing them. You would not make a trip to town just to buy nails from the hardware store. And none of our builds ever fell apart! Just wondering if anyone here still pounds out bent nails and reuses them in your projects. Later....

Had to laugh! We almost never actually reuse a nail, but I have a huge bucket of old nails just from habit...lol.

 

[gtaus]

if the bent nails are good quality it is worth time and effort to salvage them. unfortunately many of them are poor quality and cannot be used even when brand new.

Right. I have pulled out some good nails that are probably worth hammering out straight. I have lots of nails that are not worth the time or effort, being low quality to start with. Some of those nails are used in nail guns and have some kind of barb on them. Nasty looking, but I suppose they hold better.

I just am thinking it would be fun to build a pallet wood planter or raised bed using all reclaimed materials for a final true cost of "free". Up till now, I have been using new screws and my nail guns. Not a big expense, but still have to admit I put money into my pallet project builds.

Of course, I willfully ignore the cost of gas money to pick up the "free" pallets and the hundreds of dollars I have spent on tools. But I only get pallets on my way to/from town for other things, and I already had purchased many of the tools I use in my pallet projects.

 

[gtaus]

I use tomcats too. I put them directly under the chicken feeders with a cover to keep the chickens from fouling the doors with all the dirt they kick around. Love how well they work, except we seem to have some mice that won't go in them.

In theory, you don't need to bait those live mice traps. Their curiosity will trap the mice. But I have also used peanut butter as bait to give them an extra incentive. Seems to work.

Had to laugh! We almost never actually reuse a nail, but I have a huge bucket of old nails just from habit...lol.

I know. My grandpa lived through the Great Depression and never threw anything out that had the smallest chance of being reused. Over the years, I have turned into my grandpa, too!

Someone posted earlier in this thread that they used rusty old nails and vinegar(?) to make a really nice looking wood stain. Even if I end up not using a lot of my old pallet nails, I think I'll save them up and make rusty nail stain out of them. I was really impressed with the look of the pallet wood stained from the rusty nails mix and think it would look great for an inside the house type project. Or, for a planter if you want to alternate between dark wood and light wood. That's a nice look, too.

 

[ChicksnMore]

In theory, you don't need to bait those live mice traps. Their curiosity will trap the mice. But I have also used peanut butter as bait to give them an extra incentive. Seems to work.



I know. My grandpa lived through the Great Depression and never threw anything out that had the smallest chance of being reused. Over the years, I have turned into my grandpa, too!

Someone posted earlier in this thread that they used rusty old nails and vinegar(?) to make a really nice looking wood stain. Even if I end up not using a lot of my old pallet nails, I think I'll save them up and make rusty nail stain out of them. I was really impressed with the look of the pallet wood stained from the rusty nails mix and think it would look great for an inside the house type project. Or, for a planter if you want to alternate between dark wood and light wood. That's a nice look, too.

I like your idea of a 100% reused project. Think I'll change to 2 buckets for old nails. 1 for straight nails and 1 for bent. If I took a second to sort them from the start, I'd be more likely to reuse those straight nails at least, and the bent nails could go to stain. I do this already for screws just because I prefer screws to nails, but I do use an occasional nail.