Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Matejka]

I have never heard of Amy pallets. It looks like a pallet with wood sidewalls. Is that what it is? What is transported in them?

Anyway, looks like a lot of wood coming your way. Have fun....

That SHOULD have been "any". Mistype/autocorrect/fat fingers ....I plead guilty.
These are actually wooden crates. They're at a machine shop, not sure what was transported in them.
Anyhow, I will use them on coop, as a rain/wind block.
Possibly a compost bin, and storage for yard/garden tools. I'll decide when I actually see them. Looks like their on legs, so possibly have a bottom/floor. Might make a good doghouse. My thoughts are endless. I can get more anytime.
Free is good!

 

[gtaus]

That SHOULD have been "any". Mistype/autocorrect/fat fingers ....I plead guilty.
These are actually wooden crates. They're at a machine shop, not sure what was transported in them.
Anyhow, I will use them on coop, as a rain/wind block.
Possibly a compost bin, and storage for yard/garden tools. I'll decide when I actually see them. Looks like their on legs, so possibly have a bottom/floor. Might make a good doghouse. My thoughts are endless. I can get more anytime.
Free is good!

I blame the autocorrect for those mistakes. I swear I typed one thing, but when I go back and read my post, it somehow has changed the words. Thanks for responding.

I was going nuts trying to Google "Amy pallets" and not coming up with anything.

If you break down some of your pallets to get wood for other projects, you could use a crate like those to store your pallet wood pieces, and just throw a cheap tarp over the bin to keep the wood inside dry. One of those crates would holds lot of pallet wood.

I built some smaller pallet wood storage bins, with wheels, for inside my garage. They work great. But I would not have room for a large pallet sized bin as in those pictures you posted. If I did have room for something that big inside my garage, I think I'd just put some good wheels on the bin and be all done with that project.

I have 5 pallet wood compost bins. I prefer direct contact with the ground, but I have seen some compost bins with floors. If you used a crate as a compost bin, you might have to open one side so you can get materials in and out. I made a rail type system in the front of my compost bins where I just add a board across the front as the level of the compost pile gets high enough.

Another thought that comes to mind is having some kind of door on the bottom front of the bin. You would put the new compost material in the top of the bin, and then when the compost is finished, you could open that door on the bottom of the bin and scoop out the finished compost.

I think I'd lose sleep over thinking about all the projects I could build with bins like those. Nice score.

 

[Matejka]

I blame the autocorrect for those mistakes. I swear I typed one thing, but when I go back and read my post, it somehow has changed the words. Thanks for responding.

I was going nuts trying to Google "Amy pallets" and not coming up with anything.

I'm sorry! I try to read/correct my posts. That one slipped through.

 

[Matejka]

Ok got the crates to the house.
Actually, their boxes, 34 inches square and 24 inches deep. They have a bottom/floor in them

 

[Sally PB]

I think I'd lose sleep over thinking about all the projects I could build with bins like those. Nice score.

I am soooo jealous! Those look great! Happy building.

 

[gtaus]

Ok got the crates to the house.
Actually, their boxes, 34 inches square and 24 inches deep. They have a bottom/floor in them

What a find! I could think of so many projects to build with them just as they are.

Question.... If you cut those wrapping bands, do all the side panels and bottom come out separately? If so, lots of other possible uses for those full panels.

If you are into gardening, those pallet panels would make an excellent raised bed. I love using raised beds with the square foot gardening method.

Here is a picture of some pallet wood raised beds from Google pics....

Here is a picture of one of my (unfinished) pallet wood raised beds I made late last summer. In this picture, you see how I filled the bottom up with wood. This spring, I will be adding the 6-8 inches of topsoil/chicken run compost mix for planting. Those boards on the corners are only temporary to keep the raised beds in square when I moved them from my garage to the backyard. Some people like to add a trim board on the top edge, but I usually don't.

My pallet wood raised garden beds are 16 inches high, but that is because that is about how long the pallet slat pieces are after I cut them off the 2X4s. But I did have some old wooden fencing that was 48 inches high, and I cut them in half to 24 inches high to made some raised beds out in the main garden.

When you have raised beds that high, you don't have to bend over to maintain the plants. Much easier on my back then in ground planting, at my age.

If I had your pallet bins, I think I'd just make the garden beds 24 inches high. But you could certainly cut them down to 12 inches high (for example) and have twice as many raised beds. In either case, I highly recommend using the hügelkultur system for raised beds. That is where you fill up the bottom portion of the raised bed with wood logs, branches, wood chips, some greens, and then top it off with about 8 inches of a topsoil and chicken run compost mix 1:1.

The wood in the bottom portion obviously acts as a filler, but more importantly, the wood acts like a sponge, retaining water, and releasing it to the plants as needed. The older and more rotted the wood, the better the sponge factor. Over time, the hügelkultur bed should get better and better. Another benefit of the wood is that as it rots underneath, it turns into a rich black soil that feeds your plants even more. It's like a timed released fertilizer that works over years.

Because the wood in the hügelkultur raised beds decays, your raised bed level will fall a little bit each year. I have to top off my garden beds with maybe 2 inches of fresh compost or compost/topsoil mixture every year. But doing that also increases the natural richness of the raised bed. As the wood in the huglekulture portion breaks down and releases its nutrients into the soil underneath, your fresh compost added every year to the top also adds more nutrients. You enrich the raised bed from both the bottom and top every year. That's a really good system.

Sorry to drone on about raised beds, but this pallet wood project thread actually spun off one of the gardening threads. So, I'm a bit biased on my pallet projects. Having said that, if you are on a chicken forum, chances are you also garden and use your chicken poo to enrich your compost. If not, please consider doing it!

 

[fuzzi]

Agree.



That's great. When I was growing up, girls only took Home Ec and guys only took shop class. That changed a few years after I graduated from high school. I think it's good for girls to have an understanding of power tools and guys should know their way around the kitchen. After that, to each their preference.

When I was entering 7th grade the school offered shop ("IA") and Home Ec. My mother had already taught me more than the Home Ec teacher knew, and I wanted to take IA. I asked to switch my Home Ec with IA. I was told no, because "girls take Home Ec". That was in 1972.

 

[Knobby]

Ok got the crates to the house.
Actually, their boxes, 34 inches square and 24 inches deep. They have a bottom/floor in them

Those types of pallets have great potentials. You can flip them over, so now the floors are roofs, use some to store excess pallet wood or for additional storage containers...possibilities are endless.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Ok got the crates to the house.
Actually, their boxes, 34 inches square and 24 inches deep. They have a bottom/floor in them

Those look so useful...what a find!

 

[gtaus]

When I was entering 7th grade the school offered shop ("IA") and Home Ec. My mother had already taught me more than the Home Ec teacher knew, and I wanted to take IA. I asked to switch my Home Ec with IA. I was told no, because "girls take Home Ec". That was in 1972.

Yep, at my junior high school, back around 1975, if you wanted to take Home Economics as a guy, you were told that was not an option. Ditto for any girls that wanted to take a shop class. I graduated in 1979. My younger brother by 5 years, was able to take Home Economics. So, things started to change, IMHO for the better, somewhere in the late 70's or early 80's. I think that is wonderful.

I believe all kids should feel comfortable in both the garage and the kitchen. After that, to each their own interests.