Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

It got up to 51F this afternoon, so I opened up the big garage doors and let all that free heat into my garage which was sitting at 42F. Finished de-nailing the 6 pallets I broke down yesterday. Lots of good wood saved from that effort.

Yesterday, I mentioned that I cut a slit/hole in a 5-gallon bucket lid for de-nailing boards with my Air Locker AP700. As I mentioned, it was just a bit too short for me. Today, I found a half pallet and used that as a base to lift up the buckets. For me, that was about the perfect height for shooting out those nails. Just about 35 inches tall. No bending over.

The older I get, the more important good ergonomics is for my well being.

After all that work, I took stock of my boards and I now have enough pallet wood 2X4 studs cleaned and ready to build another raised bed. I'll have to see if I still have some long screws to put the frame together. If not, I'll pick up some later this week when I go to town. But I think that will be my next pallet project. Another raised bed version 2.0.

I'm still sticking with that pallet wood raised bed design until I come up with something better. One of the biggest advantages to this design v2.0 is that I can use those 2X4 studs with the cutouts just as they are for the framing. It took me a long time to think of how to use those cutout studs.

I got some plans on making tomato trellises out of pallet wood as well, but I think I might need to use the table saw to rip some wood down to width for that project. My table saw is down in the other garage for the winter. So that project will have to wait.

In the raised bed picture above, you see I planted some cherry tomatoes. I thought they might grow to be about 3 feet tall. I used my old wire tomato cages for support. However, maybe because of all of the black gold chicken run compost I used in the raised bed, my cherry tomatoes grew to over 6-foot-tall last summer and then flopped over on top of the cages. I never had tomatoes grow that tall. This year, I want to build some stronger pallet wood trellises that are at least 5 feet tall for support. I think that will work better.

At any rate, it really felt good to get a little work done in the garage in the dead of winter. Hope we have some more nice days like this early this year.

 

[Sally PB]

At any rate, it really felt good to get a little work done in the garage in the dead of winter. Hope we have some more nice days like this early this year.

I know exactly what you mean!

I LOVE it when I can rake up some thatch on a (comparitively) warm day in March or April, thinking of the time when I'll want it come May or June. And there it will be, ready and waiting.

 

[gtaus]

How do you pack 20 pounds of potatoes into a 10 pound sack?

That's what it felt like this morning as I was cleaning up my garage. Too much stuff packed into the garage and nowhere to put it all. Worked for 2 hours moving stuff around, trying to put things that had a place back in their place, tossed some broken bits and pieces that even I could not see worth keeping, organizing other stuff so I can find it better later, etc... At the end of those 2 hours, I had a lot done, but looking at the garage, you would probably not see much of a difference.

Part of the cleanup was because I am looking for some long screws with washer heads that I use to make my pallet wood raised beds. I need a minimum of 16 of those long screws. I only found one.

Well, I might have used up all those long screws last year when I made my raised beds in the spring. Those screws were from a pallet I picked up and I knew I hit paydirt as soon as I saw that pallet. The screws were 4 inches long and had those torx star heads on them. They look like this...

They were perfect for my pallet wood raised bed build. I use them to screw the 2X4 frame together. Very nice. IIRC, last year those screws, brand new, cost about 80 cents each. I had a handful of them after taking them out of the pallet, but maybe I used them all last year. If I don't find anymore this afternoon, I'll have to look for some long screws in town tomorrow.

I will tell you right now, I'm not going to pay 80 cents each for some new long screws with built in washer heads for my pallet wood raised beds. I might go cheap with some 4-inch-long drywall screws and add washers. I have a bin full of those screws in my storage case. Might as well use them. A pack of washer will not cost too much.

Part of the fun I have with my pallet projects is trying to see how little money I have to put into the project and yet get a great build. I'll reuse hardware if I have it, but if not, I'm OK with making do with whatever I have available. A drywall screw and washer will be a lot less expensive than those nice long 4-inch torx screws with the built in washer heads.

 

[chickengr]

How do you pack 20 pounds of potatoes into a 10 pound sack?

That's what it felt like this morning as I was cleaning up my garage. Too much stuff packed into the garage and nowhere to put it all. Worked for 2 hours moving stuff around, trying to put things that had a place back in their place, tossed some broken bits and pieces that even I could not see worth keeping, organizing other stuff so I can find it better later, etc... At the end of those 2 hours, I had a lot done, but looking at the garage, you would probably not see much of a difference.

Part of the cleanup was because I am looking for some long screws with washer heads that I use to make my pallet wood raised beds. I need a minimum of 16 of those long screws. I only found one.

Well, I might have used up all those long screws last year when I made my raised beds in the spring. Those screws were from a pallet I picked up and I knew I hit paydirt as soon as I saw that pallet. The screws were 4 inches long and had those torx star heads on them. They look like this...

View attachment 3736367

They were perfect for my pallet wood raised bed build. I use them to screw the 2X4 frame together. Very nice. IIRC, last year those screws, brand new, cost about 80 cents each. I had a handful of them after taking them out of the pallet, but maybe I used them all last year. If I don't find anymore this afternoon, I'll have to look for some long screws in town tomorrow.

I will tell you right now, I'm not going to pay 80 cents each for some new long screws with built in washer heads for my pallet wood raised beds. I might go cheap with some 4-inch-long drywall screws and add washers. I have a bin full of those screws in my storage case. Might as well use them. A pack of washer will not cost too much.

View attachment 3736371View attachment 3736372

Part of the fun I have with my pallet projects is trying to see how little money I have to put into the project and yet get a great build. I'll reuse hardware if I have it, but if not, I'm OK with making do with whatever I have available. A drywall screw and washer will be a lot less expensive than those nice long 4-inch torx screws with the built in washer heads.

I used any screws I had on hand with washers so many times.

 

[gtaus]

I used any screws I had on hand with washers so many times.

Yeah, I hope that is a good tip someone will be able to take advantage of in the future. My dad showed me that screw with a washer trick about 40 years ago. It has saved me a lot of money over the years.

 

[Smokerbill]

A pack of washer will not cost too much.

You can get washers for a penny apiece by drilling holes through pennies...

 

[chickengr]

Yeah, I hope that is a good tip someone will be able to take advantage of in the future. My dad showed me that screw with a washer trick about 40 years ago. It has saved me a lot of money over the years.

you were lucky to have someone to teach you. I needed to find it out myself. nobody wanted to teach a girl "men's" job.

 

[Sally PB]

Part of the fun I have with my pallet projects is trying to see how little money I have to put into the project and yet get a great build.

Oh, I know what you mean! It makes me giggle, sometimes.

you were lucky to have someone to teach you. I needed to find it out myself. nobody wanted to teach a girl "men's" job.

Yeah, I wish my dad, who was a very capable carpenter, had taught me some stuff.

 

[gtaus]

Well, I might have used up all those long screws last year when I made my raised beds in the spring. Those screws were from a pallet I picked up and I knew I hit paydirt as soon as I saw that pallet. The screws were 4 inches long and had those torx star heads on them. They look like this...

I found my stash of those pallet wood torx head screws safely in another storage case. I have 18 of them in a bin. So, I have enough to build at least one more pallet wood raised bed with recycled screws. I measured those screws and they are actually3-1/2 inches long. But they are at least 50% thicker than a drywall screw. Heavy-duty screws.

Here is what they actually look like in the bin...

You can see they are some heavy-duty screws. That white stuff on the bottom of the screws is pulp from the wood in the pallets. So, you can see that I am reusing my hardware and putting it to good use in other projects.

BTW, if you ever find a pallet put together with screws instead of pallet nails, you won't believe how easy it is to take that pallet apart - providing you have a drill for the job. I save most of my pallet wood nails for a future project, but the screws come out much faster, cleaner, straighter and are ready for immediate reuse in most cases. I really like working with screws.

 

[gtaus]

You can get washers for a penny apiece by drilling holes through pennies...

I had never thought of that! Genius. It never occurred to me that I could make my own washers from using pennies. Even better, you could drill in the perfect sized hole to fit your screw you are going to use.

I wonder if the penny washer, outside in the elements, would rust out? The washers I buy are all galvanized steel and pretty much rust proof.