Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

I think I stripped about 4 screws on the entire hoop coop project. My dh took out a couple of them for me, using vice grips.

I have a screw extractor set that works pretty good on stripped screw heads and bolts.

I have used it a few times on screws and bolts that other, easier methods did not work.

Depending on far down the screw head is when you strip it out, sometimes I can just tighten down the screw head really tight on a drill chuck if the head is sticking up over the wood, put the drill in reverse, and the screw comes right out.

 

[gtaus]

I use a lot of drywall screws too, mostly inside. What I use the most though are the hex headed screws. First box I bought were sold as structural screws. I just love them. I've never had them strip, they almost never snap and they never rust. I can remove them ten years later and reuse them again and again. I've never used torx screws though so

Don't know if we are talking about the same type of heads. Torx head on the left, hex head on the right. I have used both types, but more of the Torx head screws. Don't know why, but it seems our local Fleet stores sells the Torx head screws in bulk by the pound, so I get them from the bins.

The long lagscrews I removed from a couple of pallets were Torx head screws.

In any case, I really like using screws because they can be easily removed and reused years later. I don't know how many 10 years I have left, but your point is well taken and I would encourage younger people to consider using those screws instead of nails. Chances are, they are the ones who will be reusing those screws in another project down the road.

 

[chickengr]

I don't use nails. if you need to change something in your project screws are better.

 

[gtaus]

I have a couple of sub-irrigated elevated planters that I have in the backyard with my pallet wood raised garden beds. The elevated planters were initially meant to be used on our decks, but Dear Wife did not like how much room (2X4 feet) they took on the deck. So, I had to move a couple of those planters out and put them on soil. Unfortunately, the 2X4 legs on the planters sunk into the ground over the winter/spring. The planters were all uneven and looked pretty bad. I had to jack up the planter and put some foot pad supports under them...

Here is a close up of the foot pad support I put underneath the legs...

Those 4 foot pad supports I used were something I took off one the pallets that I picked up this winter. I had no idea what I could use those wedge shaped blocks of wood for at the time, but I just knew that I would find a use for them.

Just trying to show that you can salvage lots of things from pallets that might come in useful somewhere else. I almost always pick up those strange pallets that use special hardware or have other stuff attached to the pallet.

 

[Friendthechicken]

Thought I would share a few photos of our “pallet-sided” coop process. Taking so many pallets apart was a bit tedious but totally worth the savings and is holding up well so far.

 

[gtaus]

Pallet Wood Arch added to Raised Garden Bed

Dear Wife took over one of my raised garden beds and planted some bitter melon in it. I don't know the exact Asian name of the plant, but I think we call them bitter melons in English. They grow on a climbing vine like cucumbers. So, I need to add an arch to the that raised garden bed....

I salvaged some 6 foot long 2X4's from long pallets for the vertical supports, and used ~4 foot 2X4's on the top wood frame. Put everything together with screws. The arch stood by itself pretty good, and I could have left it as it was, but I decided to put one screw into the bed frame and support on the bottom as well. That made the arch rock solid and you could swing from it.

I had some leftover 2X4 inch fencing that I stapled on to the arch. I have a powered staple gun which I loaded up with long staples and just shot them into the wood. That will be plenty good to hold the wire, and if I ever want to remove the wire from the arch, all I need is a screwdriver and/or pliers to pull out the staples. Here is a closeup of the staples....

OK, these 9/16 inch Arrow 50 staples are nowhere near as strong as fence post staples, but I just shot a staple in about every 6 inches and that should be plenty strong for the trellis. Again, the idea is that I might want to take apart that arch someday and these staples will be much easier to remove than fence post staples.

Fence post staples, which you might use for building your chicken run, look like this...

I thought fence post staples would be overkill for a trellis. Also, Arrow staples are much cheaper and easier to shoot into the wood with my 18v powered stapler.

I was telling Dear Wife that I was going to trim the fence wire to be flush with the 2X4 vertical supports. But she asked me why I was going to trim the fencing because the plants don't care if some of the wire fence is hanging out over the supports. Thinking about it, it was easy for me to agree with not trimming the fencing, because, if I ever take down that arch, I still have the entire fencing wire to reuse instead of a shorter piece.

Picture of wire fencing overhanging the wood...

Also, the wire fence overhang just provides a bit more room for the bitter melons to climb up. That should be a good thing, I would think.

This was one of those pallet projects that I turned over and over in my head for a few weeks. I had considered ripping the 2X4's in half to make a lighter frame. I could have done that, but eventually I decided to use the full 2X4's for added strength. I had also consider ripping some wood to make slats for the plants to climb up on. However, since I was attempting to grow food, I thought the wire fencing would provide more sunshine as the plants grew. If I had used slats running up the supports, I was thinking that the slats would partially block the sun and that is not what I wanted. I had also considered a number of arch types, but eventually decided on the flat top as the easiest and perhaps the strongest with 2X4's as the frame. Basically, I had grand plans on different options and eventually decided on a much simpler, but stronger, build on this arch.

Would love to hear any comments or suggestions on improving this project. This was just my first attempt at making an arch for the raised bed and I'm open to any improvements.

 

[gtaus]

Pallet Wood Mobile Work Bench update

A while back I posted how I made a work bench out of a pallet for one of my tow-behind garden carts. It was a very simple project. All I did was screw on some scrap 2X4's to the bottom of the pallet so the pallet would fit snug on the cart and not move all around. Anyways, the riding mower that I was using to tow the cart up and died on me. The engine went bad and the head mechanic at our local Fleet store told me that the problem was internal to the engine, and it was not worth spending the money to rebuild the old engine. So, I have put my ~40 year old Snapper rider back into service and here it is hooked up to the pallet wood mobile work bench...

I can easily slide the pallet forward/backward on the cart and store my tools inside the cart. Then I just drive everything out to the location where I want to work. I'm a big fan of using regular sawhorses, but sometimes it is just easier to have a bench top to work on.

No jokes about the old Snapper, please. I have had lots of bigger riding mowers come and go over the years. This old Snapper still remains. Got to respect that, I guess.

 

[gtaus]

Thought I would share a few photos of our “pallet-sided” coop process. Taking so many pallets apart was a bit tedious but totally worth the savings and is holding up well so far.

Very nice.

I don't mind taking apart pallets. The trick for me is to decide what method to use for any particular pallet to get the most useable wood from it. As far as being a tedious task, I just put on my Bluetooth headphones and listen to music or a radio program. Sometimes I load up an audiobook I have been wanting to listen to. Making good use of the time I spend on taking apart the pallets with my hands while listening to an audiobook with my ears.

I know the price of lumber has come down since the COVID-19 pandemic, but still, if you are willing to put in some sweat equity, you can save lots of money by using pallet wood for your projects. I like saving money where I can.

 

[Friendthechicken]

Very nice.

I don't mind taking apart pallets. The trick for me is to decide what method to use for any particular pallet to get the most useable wood from it. As far as being a tedious task, I just put on my Bluetooth headphones and listen to music or a radio program. Sometimes I load up an audiobook I have been wanting to listen to. Making good use of the time I spend on taking apart the pallets with my hands while listening to an audiobook with my ears.

I know the price of lumber has come down since the COVID-19 pandemic, but still, if you are willing to put in some sweat equity, you can save lots of money by using pallet wood for your projects. I like saving money where I can.

Thank you! And I totally agree!!

 

[Smokerbill]

Pallet Wood Arch added to Raised Garden Bed

Dear Wife took over one of my raised garden beds and planted some bitter melon in it. I don't know the exact Asian name of the plant, but I think we call them bitter melons in English. They grow on a climbing vine like cucumbers. So, I need to add an arch to the that raised garden bed....

View attachment 3543714

I salvaged some 6 foot long 2X4's from long pallets for the vertical supports, and used ~4 foot 2X4's on the top wood frame. Put everything together with screws. The arch stood by itself pretty good, and I could have left it as it was, but I decided to put one screw into the bed frame and support on the bottom as well. That made the arch rock solid and you could swing from it.

I had some leftover 2X4 inch fencing that I stapled on to the arch. I have a powered staple gun which I loaded up with long staples and just shot them into the wood. That will be plenty good to hold the wire, and if I ever want to remove the wire from the arch, all I need is a screwdriver and/or pliers to pull out the staples. Here is a closeup of the staples....

View attachment 3543717

OK, these 9/16 inch Arrow 50 staples are nowhere near as strong as fence post staples, but I just shot a staple in about every 6 inches and that should be plenty strong for the trellis. Again, the idea is that I might want to take apart that arch someday and these staples will be much easier to remove than fence post staples.

Fence post staples, which you might use for building your chicken run, look like this...

View attachment 3543721
I thought fence post staples would be overkill for a trellis. Also, Arrow staples are much cheaper and easier to shoot into the wood with my 18v powered stapler.

I was telling Dear Wife that I was going to trim the fence wire to be flush with the 2X4 vertical supports. But she asked me why I was going to trim the fencing because the plants don't care if some of the wire fence is hanging out over the supports. Thinking about it, it was easy for me to agree with not trimming the fencing, because, if I ever take down that arch, I still have the entire fencing wire to reuse instead of a shorter piece.

Picture of wire fencing overhanging the wood...

View attachment 3543724

Also, the wire fence overhang just provides a bit more room for the bitter melons to climb up. That should be a good thing, I would think.

This was one of those pallet projects that I turned over and over in my head for a few weeks. I had considered ripping the 2X4's in half to make a lighter frame. I could have done that, but eventually I decided to use the full 2X4's for added strength. I had also consider ripping some wood to make slats for the plants to climb up on. However, since I was attempting to grow food, I thought the wire fencing would provide more sunshine as the plants grew. If I had used slats running up the supports, I was thinking that the slats would partially block the sun and that is not what I wanted. I had also considered a number of arch types, but eventually decided on the flat top as the easiest and perhaps the strongest with 2X4's as the frame. Basically, I had grand plans on different options and eventually decided on a much simpler, but stronger, build on this arch.

Would love to hear any comments or suggestions on improving this project. This was just my first attempt at making an arch for the raised bed and I'm open to any improvements.

I like your arch! Someone mentioned in another thread that the staples would quickly rust away. If that's a problem, there are stainless steel T-50 staples available that you could use next time for outdoor projects. The Arrow brand are naturally more expensive than off brand stainless staples. Good Work on the cart, too!

https://www.amazon.com/ARROW-Staple...-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1