Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Woke up this morning to 2 inches of snow on the ground. Too early in the year for that. Probably will melt over the weekend, but priority is now shifting towards winter prep.

Again, I hope some of you people in warmer weather can keep us inspired on pallet projects that we can pick up next spring. As for me, I'm still working on my pallet modular workbenches for the garage. I hope to finish them off in the next week or so, but with the outside temps in the low 30F's, I have not been working outside or in the unheated garage the past few days. I hope it warms up next week and I can finish off some projects before we really get hit hard with winter weather.

 

[Sally PB]

For example, on one of my planters, I would alternate between a plank piece that was 4 inches wide with pieces that were only 2 inches wide.

Creates more visual interest too.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Woke up this morning to 2 inches of snow on the ground. Too early in the year for that. Probably will melt over the weekend, but priority is now shifting towards winter prep.

Again, I hope some of you people in warmer weather can keep us inspired on pallet projects that we can pick up next spring. As for me, I'm still working on my pallet modular workbenches for the garage. I hope to finish them off in the next week or so, but with the outside temps in the low 30F's, I have not been working outside or in the unheated garage the past few days. I hope it warms up next week and I can finish off some projects before we really get hit hard with winter weather.

Boo!!! No snow too early in the yr!!!
I have hopes of snow holding off....
Maybe you'll have a few more warmer days

 

[gtaus]

very inventive, good idea

I know it can be difficult to jump into a thread that is now over 600+ posts, but there is a lot of good info on pallet projects posted here if you want to browse the thread. Also, if you have any questions or concerns with working with pallets, feel free to ask your questions. I don't expect everyone visiting this thread will have the time and/or desire to read all 600+ posts, and I really don't mind reposting info if it helps. Like any topic thread, it's only as good as we make it.

If you have some pallet projects that you have done, we would love to see your pics. That's what inspires most of us. I also enjoy a nice upload link of a YouTube video if you have something you find interesting. I don't think any of us have the time to browse all the stuff online, so it's nice to get a link every now and then of what someone finds useful.

 

[gtaus]

Maybe you'll have a few more warmer days

Thanks. I certainly hope so. I really want to finish the pallet modular workbenches because they are going to be used as storage underneath the benchtop. Need to clean up the garage and get things put away so I can get my second car back in the garage for the winter. Winter always comes too early, no matter when it comes....

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Winter always comes too early, no matter when it comes....

I % agree

I am excited to see your work bench!!!

 

[Sally PB]

@gtaus, you've mentioned using a planer. I'd guess they come in different sizes, but how big of one would you need to plane pallet boards? And what might one cost? Wondering if this is something worth looking into...

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus, you've mentioned using a planer. I'd guess they come in different sizes, but how big of one would you need to plane pallet boards? And what might one cost? Wondering if this is something worth looking into...

OK. I was talking about my old Delta 12 inch thickness planer which I bought about 30 years ago, used it once on one remolding job, and never used again. Those type of benchtop planers, which will plane a board up to 12 inches wide, cost about $400.00 at current prices.

I have no idea what a good buy on a bench planer these days would be, but when I was in Harbor Freight last week, I noticed someone buying their Bauer 12-1/2" thickness planer for $379.99 full price. It looks pretty close to the bench planner that I bought 30 years ago. Like anything from Harbor Freight, look for a discount coupon before you make a purchase.

I don't really recommend getting an expensive thickness planer for pallet wood projects unless you are going to do lots of very fine detailed woodworking where you have to mill your lumber before you do the build. Most of the pallet projects that have been posted on this thread don't need a benchtop planer. None of my pallet projects to date have needed a benchtop thickness planer.

Recently, I was considering running some pallet wood planks through my benchtop planer to make the tops of my pallet workbenches. But, after considering my options, I ended up buying OSB boards for the benchtops. If I ever have more time, I'd like to try to use pallet wood planks, plane them down to a uniform thickness, and build a benchtop with that pallet wood. But, I just don't have enough time to do it with winter coming on so fast (2 inches of snow this morning).

I also have a Ryobi 18v hand planer that I bought from Home Depot a few years ago. I bought it for door installs where I sometimes need to plane down the edge of the door to custom fit in a not perfectly square door frame. Works good for that. This summer, when I made some pallet wood planters, I had to custom plane down a few boards on a slight taper to fit in the side walls. At the time, I did not have my table saw set up to make perfectly square boards, so the last board on each side of the planter box had to be custom cut and planed on the edge to fit.

That Ryobi 18v hand planer costs about $100.00 regular price, but I bought my planer on sale with extra batteries at a much better kit price. I never pay full price for Ryobi tools at Home Depot. I just wait for them to go on sale or to be included with a battery kit to sweeten the deal.

Frankly, for most of my pallet projects, I could probably get by with just a simple, inexpensive, hand planer which you can pick up for $5.99 at Harbor Freight. Even less if you have a discount coupon. I used this planer, along with my Ryobi 18v planer, on those pallet planters that I had to custom fit my final boards in the side walls. If you only need to take off a little wood, then this small planer is a great option. I used my Ryobi 18v planer if I had to take off more wood, and for the entire length of the board, because it's just faster.

After I made those pallet planters where I had to custom plane down the last board to fit in the side wall, I changed my design so I would not need to plane down any boards. In most of my pallet projects, I try to think, and rethink, the design so I don't have to use specialty tools like the planers which take more time to use. On the planters, for example, I redesigned it to have an outside frame and put the pallet planks behind the frame. That way, I never had to custom plane any boards. I could adjust the boards in the back of the frame and you would never see any slight off square boards.

There are a number of people on YouTube that use pallet wood, plane it down to a desired thickness with a benchtop thickness planer, and make some incredible projects. I'm just not at that skill level.

If you want to get into the more advanced pallet projects where planing of the boards is required, than you might want to invest in a powered hand planer or the more expensive bench top thickness planer. Most of my pallet wood boards are 4 inches wide or less, so even the powered hand planer would be fine for that. Real woodworkers get by with larger hand planers, but they have developed skills that I don't have.

Anyway, I've said about all I know on the subject of planers, what I have, and how I use them.

 

[gtaus]

I am excited to see your work bench!!!

I am excited about the idea of finishing them! But it will have to warm up outside, so I don't freeze myself in the unheated garage and get sick with a cold, or something. Not worth that to me. But, I will post some pics if/when I complete the benches. Thanks.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Finished boarding up the Turkey Tower! I am pleased!!! Although a lot of the boards were prone to splitting
Now just for the roof, and roost!

We also made a food platform! Filling in the gaps of the pallet with some of the boards I got.


Also one of Doc! He's doing fantastic. I don't find his pen or him smelly at all. He's loving the Pig Palace and it is holding up well so far.

Also, I am on a stand by list for baby goats in March!!