Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

We had a heat wave today, with temps around 42F! Took advantage of the good weather and broke down the pallet with the 5/8-inch plywood top I picked up the other day. Salvaged the whole half sheet without too much trouble. That plywood should be good for some project later this spring.

Just want to add that when I took apart that pallet with the 5/8-inch plywood, they used 1-1/4-inch staples in the plywood in addition to nails. From what I can tell, the nails held the pallet together and the staples must have been used for plastic or paper wrapping, or something like that.

Anyways, the nails were easy to take out, but the staples were a small pain in the butt. I pulled them out with my Code Red Pliers, but the staples were brittle and about one half of the staples broke off before I could pull them out.

I ended up having to pound the tiny stubs from the remaining staples into the wood and calling it a day. None of my pliers could grab ahold of the tiny stubs of the staples and pull them out. So, better to pound it into the wood then risk cutting up my hand sometime in the future when handling that wood. I don't normally resort to pounding anything back into the wood, but I am pretty sure that those thin staples can safely be run through a saw without causing any damage.

I have some business in town tomorrow, so, on my way back home, I'll run by the usual places I check for pallets to see what I can find. Trying to find those pallets when I can. We have 1-3 inches of snow coming in later tomorrow night, and I don't like putting pallets filled with snow into the back of my Explorer. Makes a mess inside the car. As always, I like to load up some pallets into the Explorer as long as I have to drive into town. You never know what you might find if you take the time to look!

 

[gtaus]

Picked up another load of 5 pallets today when I was in town. Managed to find another pallet with a half sheet of plywood on the top! Really getting a nice stash of plywood to reuse for something.

Interestingly, I picked up one pallet that weighed about twice as much as a normal pallet. Super solid wood on that pallet. I don't know much about different wood species, but the wood on that pallet was very heavy. Will have to save that wood for something special.

Anyway, got all the pallets offloaded out of the Explorer when I got home. We are expecting a snowstorm tonight with anything from 2 to 5-1/2 inches of snow overnight. Not the worse snowstorm for us, but enough to mess up the roads for the day.

Would love to hear from you guys in the southern states and if you are building any pallet projects. I'm still a couple months away from building any serious projects. More raised garden beds, I'm sure, to start off with.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Picked up another load of 5 pallets today when I was in town. Managed to find another pallet with a half sheet of plywood on the top! Really getting a nice stash of plywood to reuse for something.

Interestingly, I picked up one pallet that weighed about twice as much as a normal pallet. Super solid wood on that pallet. I don't know much about different wood species, but the wood on that pallet was very heavy. Will have to save that wood for something special.

Anyway, got all the pallets offloaded out of the Explorer when I got home. We are expecting a snowstorm tonight with anything from 2 to 5-1/2 inches of snow overnight. Not the worse snowstorm for us, but enough to mess up the roads for the day.

Would love to hear from you guys in the southern states and if you are building any pallet projects. I'm still a couple months away from building any serious projects. More raised garden beds, I'm sure, to start off with.

Jealous in the best way of all your pallet finds. I keep eyeing craigslist postings for free pallets, crates and all kindsa stuff and wishing I had a truck. I might go ahead and have the feed store deliver some with my next hay delivery. They used to only charge $2 a pallet...not sure if that's changed. Works but not as fun or free as what your doing.

Cold snap here so working on our above stove area. We had a hanging microwave there that we've had to replace 3 times over the last 15 years. I finally asked hubby if we can just get rid of it and go back to a counter top model. Now we're using our 30 year old microwave that still works perfect. Anyhow, I got some metal tiles and I'm fixing that area up. No pallet wood there though

 

[gtaus]

Jealous in the best way of all your pallet finds. I keep eyeing craigslist postings for free pallets, crates and all kindsa stuff and wishing I had a truck.

It took me awhile to find free pallet pickup places. I started off with just one location, but now I am up to 5 sites to check. Sometimes they have pallets outside for pickup, sometimes not. But I try to make it a point to clear out the back of the old Explorer before going into town just in case I find some pallets to load up.

The old Explorer is not the same as a pickup truck with an open cargo bed. My Explorer has a hard top, so that limits me to about 6 or 7 pallets max that will fit into the back. But I'm happy to find any pallets and tell myself it paid for the gas money to run to town and back. At 13 mpg, you invent reasons to keep the old vehicles....

One of the places I pick up my pallets has a nice metal stand out there for somebody. I can't fit it into my Explorer, but if that stand is still there in the spring when I can hook up my trailer again, I'll be looking to load it up. Don't know what I'd use the metal for right now, but a few years ago I bought an inexpensive flux core welder at Harbor Freight. If nothing else, I could use that metal to practice my novice welding skills.

Kinda of wish I had spent more time in school learning how to weld. But I went into the Math and Science classes instead of shop class. So, here I am at 60+ years old doing pallet projects and learning how to weld just for the pure fun of it. And raising backyard chickens, and gardening, and making compost.... Never would have guessed that when I was younger.

 

[gtaus]

Cold snap here so working on our above stove area. We had a hanging microwave there that we've had to replace 3 times over the last 15 years. I finally asked hubby if we can just get rid of it and go back to a counter top model.

My sister had her microwave oven inside a cupboard. But they went through 2 or 3 microwaves in less than a couple of years. Turns out that the microwave got too hot inside the enclosure. They moved the microwave out onto the countertop and have not had a problem for many years. Don't know how you have your above stove microwave mounted, but if it does not get good ventilation, that might be a reason they are failing.

Also, I just don't think the newer microwave ovens are built to the same quality standards of the older models. If you get 3-5 years on a new microwave, I think you are lucky.

 

[ChicksnMore]

It took me awhile to find free pallet pickup places. I started off with just one location, but now I am up to 5 sites to check. Sometimes they have pallets outside for pickup, sometimes not. But I try to make it a point to clear out the back of the old Explorer before going into town just in case I find some pallets to load up.

The old Explorer is not the same as a pickup truck with an open cargo bed. My Explorer has a hard top, so that limits me to about 6 or 7 pallets max that will fit into the back. But I'm happy to find any pallets and tell myself it paid for the gas money to run to town and back. At 13 mpg, you invent reasons to keep the old vehicles....

One of the places I pick up my pallets has a nice metal stand out there for somebody. I can't fit it into my Explorer, but if that stand is still there in the spring when I can hook up my trailer again, I'll be looking to load it up. Don't know what I'd use the metal for right now, but a few years ago I bought an inexpensive flux core welder at Harbor Freight. If nothing else, I could use that metal to practice my novice welding skills.

Kinda of wish I had spent more time in school learning how to weld. But I went into the Math and Science classes instead of shop class. So, here I am at 60+ years old doing pallet projects and learning how to weld just for the pure fun of it. And raising backyard chickens, and gardening, and making compost.... Never would have guessed that when I was younger.

Me and both my daughters want to learn how to weld. There's a place in town that offers classes but we've never gotten around to actually taking them. Maybe once the youngest is done with college.
Your retirement life sounds pretty good! Hubbies a math and science guy too. He majored in physics and math and did his PhD in optics. I'm curious to see what interests retirement brings him. Hope they're as diverse as yours.

 

[Sally PB]

Interestingly, I picked up one pallet that weighed about twice as much as a normal pallet. Super solid wood on that pallet. I don't know much about different wood species, but the wood on that pallet was very heavy. Will have to save that wood for something special.

Might be made out of white oak instead of pine. When I had to haul empty pallets out where I worked, I had to drag the oak. Pine I could carry.

Soooo jealous of your pallets and plywood! Wow, what a find!

 

[gtaus]

Me and both my daughters want to learn how to weld. There's a place in town that offers classes but we've never gotten around to actually taking them. Maybe once the youngest is done with college.

I would suggest making time, now, because one never knows what the future holds. Life has a means of passing you by if you don't actively direct your interests. The only place I know that teaches welding in my town is the local Tech College. I would be more interested in a community education evening class for welding, if available. Not concerned about getting acedemic credits at this stage in my life, just want to learn how to do more things.

Your retirement life sounds pretty good! Hubbies a math and science guy too. He majored in physics and math and did his PhD in optics. I'm curious to see what interests retirement brings him. Hope they're as diverse as yours.

I had a number of different jobs and careers. I really don't miss them - other than a steady paycheck. But now I am free to do a lot of things that I never had the time before when I was working. I hope your husband finds new interests in life that are rewarding to him. I have seen too many people whose identities are locked into their jobs, and once they leave their job, they don't know who they are.


I had an uncle who worked past his retirement age, well into his seventies. When he finally could work no longer at the job, he retired, but there was nothing left of him. He spent a few unrewarding years fighting dementia and then died. Essentially, he worked hard all his life and then had no opportunity to enjoy retirement due to his poor physical and mental health. My aunt and uncle had all kinds of plans for their retirement years, but ended up with nothing but broken dreams at the end. They deserved better.

 

[gtaus]

Might be made out of white oak instead of pine. When I had to haul empty pallets out where I worked, I had to drag the oak. Pine I could carry.

Soooo jealous of your pallets and plywood! Wow, what a find!

I really don't know much about wood species. All I know is that one pallet was about twice the weight of a normal pallet, with the same amount of wood on it. Must be some really strong wood to be that heavy.

I started picking up pallets last summer, but until these past 2 weeks, I don't remember getting any pallets with plywood tops. So, yeah, I snatched up those pallets as fast as I could. I have been breaking down those plywood top pallets and putting the plywood aside for some project in the future. I'll be sure to update the thread when I decide how to use that plywood.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I would suggest making time, now, because one never knows what the future holds. Life has a means of passing you by if you don't actively direct your interests. The only place I know that teaches welding in my town is the local Tech College. I would be more interested in a community education evening class for welding, if available. Not concerned about getting acedemic credits at this stage in my life, just want to learn how to do more things.



I had a number of different jobs and careers. I really don't miss them - other than a steady paycheck. But now I am free to do a lot of things that I never had the time before when I was working. I hope your husband finds new interests in life that are rewarding to him. I have seen too many people whose identities are locked into their jobs, and once they leave their job, they don't know who they are.


I had an uncle who worked past his retirement age, well into his seventies. When he finally could work no longer at the job, he retired, but there was nothing left of him. He spent a few unrewarding years fighting dementia and then died. Essentially, he worked hard all his life and then had no opportunity to enjoy retirement due to his poor physical and mental health. My aunt and uncle had all kinds of plans for their retirement years, but ended up with nothing but broken dreams at the end. They deserved better.

We have a place here that has all the tools and gives classes too. It's kind of an artist workspace if I understand correctly. They have welding, woodworking, 3d printing and even sewing. Sounds like an amazing place. But...oldest is always working and youngest is soon leaving. We had wanted to do it together, so I'll wait a bit longer in the hopes we can.

Think hubby will be ok in that department. But ya, I know what you mean. I'm hoping we can find some shared hobbies as well as solo and think he is too. We'll have to wait and see.