Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

I got it on sale at tsc about 5 years ago. I paid $79 for it. I use that cart for everything

Good buy on the cart at that time, and probably costs twice that much today! I have both the solid tub cart and another cart that is made out of the wire mesh stuff. I use both of them all the time, but think I prefer the solid tub cart better if I had to chose only one.

Both carts can be loaded with more weight than I could safely pull, so, I often switch the handle to the tow mode and hook it up to my riding mower. It's a back saver for sure, especially at my age where I don't want to play strongback he-man anymore.

 

[Matejka]

I have a spare riding mower, I put a nut on a bolt then slid bolt thru hitch on mower and added another nut ,tightened it down.
Now, all I have to do is drop handle of cart over bolt, and away I go.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Good buy on the cart at that time, and probably costs twice that much today! I have both the solid tub cart and another cart that is made out of the wire mesh stuff. I use both of them all the time, but think I prefer the solid tub cart better if I had to chose only one.

Both carts can be loaded with more weight than I could safely pull, so, I often switch the handle to the tow mode and hook it up to my riding mower. It's a back saver for sure, especially at my age where I don't want to play strongback he-man anymore.

Think I need to start cart shopping! I had a red wagon I used to move plants in and out for years but it's handles loosened so it's tippy now. I've been using a furniture dolly for my big plants and just hand carrying the ones small ones this year. That black beast of a cart looks much handier.

 

[Sally PB]

I have a spare riding mower, I put a nut on a bolt then slid bolt thru hitch on mower and added another nut ,tightened it down.
Now, all I have to do is drop handle of cart over bolt, and away I go.

When we had to replace our mower, hubby kept the old one to haul our small cart. He took off the mower deck, which helps with clearance on our uneven terrain.

 

[Matejka]

I have deck, sometimes I a h mow with it, I have a huge area to mow, and its ALL hill, it takes 5-6 hrs, so I swap em to give em a rest

 

[gtaus]

I took the old Ford Explorer in town today and picked up a nice load of pallets outside of Harbor Freight. Not the best pallets, but certainly worth the trouble to load up. Some good wood to be salvaged in those pallets.

I stopped at our local church Thrift Store this morning and got a used set of 4 heavy duty hinges. They had been marked for $3.00 for the set, but they had been sitting on the shelf for a number of weeks, so, I offered to buy them for $1.00 for the set and they were more than happy to accept the offer. I stopped by Home Depot later, and while there checked out the hinges they sell. The closest match I could find was a hinge for $7.27 each, and that was not as heavy duty as the set I bought. So, I figured that I probably got a $30 set of hinges for only $1.00!

The hinges look something like this...

I don't know what I will use those hinges for, but at that price, I was willing to buy them now and "find" a pallet project for them later. Open to all suggestions on how to best use these hinges. Thanks for any responses.

 

[gtaus]

I ran some errands in town today, with the old Explorer, and stopped at some of my usual places to look for free pallets. Not much at Harbor Freight today, just one pallet that was not in great shape, but I should get some wood pieces out of it. Since the Explorer was empty, I threw it into the back.

Drove by a place that usually does not have much of anything, but today I got really lucky. Picked up another 4 pallets that were in good shape. Even better, there was one oversized pallet there that had some really nice 1X6 wood slats on it. That pallet was 58 inches long. I plan on using my sawzall with a demolition blade to cut those 1X6 planks off the pallet so I can keep the full length of those boards.

I noticed that a few of those 1X6 planks had some splitting on the ends, but a little glue and some clamps should make those boards as good as new. I tried glue on some cracked boards last summer and really had good results. These 1X6 boards are definitely worth the little extra effort.

OK, free pallet wood might not be the same as buying new wood, but in that one oversized pallet alone, I think I will get about $50 of useable 1X6 wood that I don't have to buy.

Speaking of glue ups, I had a 30% coupon for Harbor Freight the other week and picked up a 3/4 inch pipe clamp kit. I will need at least 2 of those clamps, but figured I would wait to see if I can pick up another one on sale or with a discount coupon before summer. Can't do any glue ups until it gets about 60F in the garage.

One of the projects I would like to try is cutting down some pallet wood and making a panel glue up of the pieces. That's how I would use these pipe clamps. Something like this....

Don't know exactly what I would be doing with a wood panel, but it's just something I have never done before and think I would like to try it.

Last week we had a cold snap with temps as low as -28F for a few days. Today, we hit a high of +34F, so it really felt good. Can't wait till it gets warm enough to work again out in the (unheated) garage. For the time being, I am still waiting out the winter and planning pallet projects for the spring.

Be sure to send a shout out and some pics if you are out there making stuff that you want to share with the rest of us. Later...

 

[Sally PB]

Don't know exactly what I would be doing with a wood panel, but it's just something I have never done before and think I would like to try it.

Hubby made some panels out of a nice oak pallet he found. He cut the heads off of finishing nails, predrilled holes, and used glue to put together 3 pieces into a 12-14" (?) wide panel. The nails acted as pins to help hold the boards together. I don't have pictures of the process, sorry.

He used the resultant boards to make a "footlocker" to hold excess T-shirts. He did spend some money on rails to make the drawer slide smoothly, as he couldn't find anything to work the way he wanted. Not sure what they cost, but they weren't cheap. So it was more of a "I want to make something cool out of this pallet" project.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I ran some errands in town today, with the old Explorer, and stopped at some of my usual places to look for free pallets. Not much at Harbor Freight today, just one pallet that was not in great shape, but I should get some wood pieces out of it. Since the Explorer was empty, I threw it into the back.

Drove by a place that usually does not have much of anything, but today I got really lucky. Picked up another 4 pallets that were in good shape. Even better, there was one oversized pallet there that had some really nice 1X6 wood slats on it. That pallet was 58 inches long. I plan on using my sawzall with a demolition blade to cut those 1X6 planks off the pallet so I can keep the full length of those boards.

I noticed that a few of those 1X6 planks had some splitting on the ends, but a little glue and some clamps should make those boards as good as new. I tried glue on some cracked boards last summer and really had good results. These 1X6 boards are definitely worth the little extra effort.

OK, free pallet wood might not be the same as buying new wood, but in that one oversized pallet alone, I think I will get about $50 of useable 1X6 wood that I don't have to buy.

Speaking of glue ups, I had a 30% coupon for Harbor Freight the other week and picked up a 3/4 inch pipe clamp kit. I will need at least 2 of those clamps, but figured I would wait to see if I can pick up another one on sale or with a discount coupon before summer. Can't do any glue ups until it gets about 60F in the garage.

One of the projects I would like to try is cutting down some pallet wood and making a panel glue up of the pieces. That's how I would use these pipe clamps. Something like this....

Don't know exactly what I would be doing with a wood panel, but it's just something I have never done before and think I would like to try it.

Last week we had a cold snap with temps as low as -28F for a few days. Today, we hit a high of +34F, so it really felt good. Can't wait till it gets warm enough to work again out in the (unheated) garage. For the time being, I am still waiting out the winter and planning pallet projects for the spring.

Be sure to send a shout out and some pics if you are out there making stuff that you want to share with the rest of us. Later...

I really like the size of those clamps. I love restoring old furniture...those would be very handy sometimes.
I have to wait for 24 hours of 50° weather to use my asphalt emulsion so everythings slowed down since I decided to go that route. Not sure how long it'll take since it's an unusually cold winter. We're still dropping into the 30-40 range overnight. Beautiful days, but cold nights. Maybe I should have gone with paint! Think the asphalt will give the best lasting power though. I have some drawers saved from a dresser I decided wasn't worth working on that I think I'll turn into nest boxes...might work on that sometime soon.

Hubby made some panels out of a nice oak pallet he found. He cut the heads off of finishing nails, predrilled holes, and used glue to put together 3 pieces into a 12-14" (?) wide panel. The nails acted as pins to help hold the boards together. I don't have pictures of the process, sorry.

He used the resultant boards to make a "footlocker" to hold excess T-shirts. He did spend some money on rails to make the drawer slide smoothly, as he couldn't find anything to work the way he wanted. Not sure what they cost, but they weren't cheap. So it was more of a "I want to make something cool out of this pallet" project.

Your hubby sounds like he has some real skills!

 

[Sally PB]

Your hubby sounds like he has some real skills!

Yes, he does. Ok, I'm biased.