Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Knobby]

Okay we all want to hear about the gunshot wound

Nothing dramatic...was just cleaning an empty pistol and it accidentally discharged; blowing a hole through my left hand and left leg. Did I mention that it was empty? Atleast after it discharged it was empty.

 

[Knobby]

Sounds like a lot of great projects coming soon. I hope you share your experience with us and upload some pictures. I know I get lots of inspiration from others when they post pictures of their projects.

As for me, I have been busy trying to get everything planted in my new pallet wood raised beds. Most of my pallet projects have been related to my gardening efforts. I share what I can, but I know some of my posts might seem repetitive to those who follow this thread. Still, I know new people might only be jumping in at the back end of this thread and maybe it is just the first time for them.

So, I encourage everyone to post what they can even if it might have been mentioned before by them or others. We all love hearing what other people are doing. Thanks.

I've already begun taking pictures, and once everything is said and done, will post.

 

[Knobby]

Instant Pallet Wood Worktable Using Sawhorses

@Knobby reminded me of why I pick up pallets with solid plywood tops. I found this pallet a few months ago...

View attachment 3855180

That has some great 3/4 inch plywood that is in really good shape. What I am using it for is to simply take out some sawhorses and put it on top of them to make a pallet wood sawhorse table to work on.

It's really worked out great for me. My folding sawhorses in the garage fold up into almost taking up no room to store, and this pallet is easily stored vertically along a wall. Since I also use my garage to store my vehicles in the winter, I need to get my car back into the stall when I am done working on my other projects.

It takes me only a minute or two to setup up this pallet on the sawhorses and I have a nice ~4X4 foot flat top work area. Plus, I can easily put on all kinds of clamps around the pallet and secure my working wood in place. And, of course, I can break everything down and put is back in storage in no time to make room for my car.

I do have other workbenches that are bigger, stronger, heavier, etc... but none of them fold up and store away. I had to put some of my other work benches into storage this past winter because they took up too much room in the garage and I could not get my car in the stall. Anyways, the solid plywood pallet top temporary sawhorse table was the perfect solution to my needs this past winter.

Wow, I wish I could get lucky finding pallets that had those sheets of plywood. I have, however, been able to obtain a few that were built using 8' 2x4s, which I'm always ecstatic to snag up.

 

[fuzzi]

Yeah. I have only built wooden steps, which I understand. Good luck on your project.

Thanks.

I finally found some pictures, under "cinder block".

That last one is too high, but I love the planter idea.

 

[gtaus]

Nothing dramatic...was just cleaning an empty pistol and it accidentally discharged; blowing a hole through my left hand and left leg. Did I mention that it was empty? Atleast after it discharged it was empty.

You got lucky, my friend. I have heard of others blowing a hole through their head with an "empty" gun.

I was out hunting with my grandfather when I was 5 years old. I grew up with firearms from a very young age, as did most of my friends. It was kind of a rite of passage when we took the NRA Gun Safety course when we turned 13 years old. Those were different times. I don't recognize the NRA anymore. It's not the same gun safety organization that I remember.

These days, the only guns I use are nailers. That's probably too dangerous for me anyway. Not too long ago, I was shooting some brad nails into some pallet wood compost bins I was making and won't you know it, I shot a brad nail into a finger. Hurt like heck for a few days, but fortunately did not get infected. Lesson learned really quick. Now I use clamps to hold stuff like that together and keep my hands far away from the backside of the boards.

 

[gtaus]

I Made A Mistake On My Raised Beds - I Can Live With It

Well, I have noticed that I made a few mistakes in my latest pallet wood raised bed builds. For those who remember, I built a number of pallet wood raised beds this past winter in my garage. Of course, at that time, the wood I used was all nice and dry. However, now when everything is outside and it has been raining for the better part of a week, some of my sideboards have swelled up and I noticed that a few of them have warped.

Here is a picture of the worst of the warping on one of my new raised beds...

You can see in the corner there that a few boards have warped inwards into the raised bed. That gap, as I measure it, is 7/8 of an inch.

Here is a close up of those warped boards...

You can see it warped so much from the rain that the brad nails have been pulled out of the 2X4 framing.

However, I can certainly live with this imperfection because of the foresight of my initial design in the pallet wood raised bed v2.0. As you can see, the 2X4 framing is on the outside of the sidewall boards. The sidewall boards are on the inside of the framing. All the weight of the soil in the raised bed is pushing against the sidewall boards holding it in place on the 2X4 frame even though the boards have warped inwards. IF I had placed those sidewall boards on the outside of the 2X4 framing, those warped boards would have blown out!

Lesson learned, just the same, is that in the future I will be sure to leave a slight gap in the sidewall boards to allow for expansion when exposed to rain. I think this is the first time I saw that problem because the pallet wood I used this winter was dry in my garage whereas all my previous raised beds were built outside where I am sure the wood was not nearly as dry.

As I said, I can live with imperfection. However, if I really wanted to cover up my "mistakes", I could easily tack on some top trim boards and nobody would ever know.

Google picture of top trim boards on a raised bed...

I don't currently plan on adding trim boards to the top of my raised beds, but I do think they do add to the looks of the raised bed, and they also provide somewhat of a place to sit down while tending the raised bed. So, I won't rule out adding top trim boards sometime in the future.

FWIW, all the pallet wood planters I have made for Dear Wife and her flowers do have the top trim boards. She likes the look of the trim boards. Happy Wife, Happy Life!

Picture of one of her new pallet wood planters with top trim boards that I made this past winter...

 

[fuzzi]

I Made A Mistake On My Raised Beds - I Can Live With It

Well, I have noticed that I made a few mistakes in my latest pallet wood raised bed builds. For those who remember, I built a number of pallet wood raised beds this past winter in my garage. Of course, at that time, the wood I used was all nice and dry. However, now when everything is outside and it has been raining for the better part of a week, some of my sideboards have swelled up and I noticed that a few of them have warped.

Here is a picture of the worst of the warping on one of my new raised beds...

View attachment 3855849

You can see in the corner there that a few boards have warped inwards into the raised bed. That gap, as I measure it, is 7/8 of an inch.

Here is a close up of those warped boards...

View attachment 3855851

You can see it warped so much from the rain that the brad nails have been pulled out of the 2X4 framing.

However, I can certainly live with this imperfection because of the foresight of my initial design in the pallet wood raised bed v2.0. As you can see, the 2X4 framing is on the outside of the sidewall boards. The sidewall boards are on the inside of the framing. All the weight of the soil in the raised bed is pushing against the sidewall boards holding it in place on the 2X4 frame even though the boards have warped inwards. IF I had placed those sidewall boards on the outside of the 2X4 framing, those warped boards would have blown out!

Lesson learned, just the same, is that in the future I will be sure to leave a slight gap in the sidewall boards to allow for expansion when exposed to rain. I think this is the first time I saw that problem because the pallet wood I used this winter was dry in my garage whereas all my previous raised beds were built outside where I am sure the wood was not nearly as dry.

As I said, I can live with imperfection. However, if I really wanted to cover up my "mistakes", I could easily tack on some top trim boards and nobody would ever know.

Google picture of top trim boards on a raised bed...

View attachment 3855853

I don't currently plan on adding trim boards to the top of my raised beds, but I do think they do add to the looks of the raised bed, and they also provide somewhat of a place to sit down while tending the raised bed. So, I won't rule out adding top trim boards sometime in the future.

FWIW, all the pallet wood planters I have made for Dear Wife and her flowers do have the top trim boards. She likes the look of the trim boards. Happy Wife, Happy Life!

Picture of one of her new pallet wood planters with top trim boards that I made this past winter...

View attachment 3855855

I appreciate your updates, showing issues as well as successes.

 

[Knobby]

You got lucky, my friend. I have heard of others blowing a hole through their head with an "empty" gun.

I was out hunting with my grandfather when I was 5 years old. I grew up with firearms from a very young age, as did most of my friends. It was kind of a rite of passage when we took the NRA Gun Safety course when we turned 13 years old. Those were different times. I don't recognize the NRA anymore. It's not the same gun safety organization that I remember.

These days, the only guns I use are nailers. That's probably too dangerous for me anyway. Not too long ago, I was shooting some brad nails into some pallet wood compost bins I was making and won't you know it, I shot a brad nail into a finger. Hurt like heck for a few days, but fortunately did not get infected. Lesson learned really quick. Now I use clamps to hold stuff like that together and keep my hands far away from the backside of the boards.

The embarrassing thing about the whole incident is that I'm an NRA certified safety instructor and president of a 700 member rifle and pistol club. Guess I'll have proof of what not to do, while handling a weapon, when I go over safety procedures. Like you stated, live and learn from our mistakes. BTW, I've shot myself with finish nailers and roofing nailers as well.

I've got 165 rifles and pistols in my collection and was surprised with the fact that my wife didn't make me sell them off after my incident.

 

[Knobby]

I Made A Mistake On My Raised Beds - I Can Live With It

Well, I have noticed that I made a few mistakes in my latest pallet wood raised bed builds. For those who remember, I built a number of pallet wood raised beds this past winter in my garage. Of course, at that time, the wood I used was all nice and dry. However, now when everything is outside and it has been raining for the better part of a week, some of my sideboards have swelled up and I noticed that a few of them have warped.

Here is a picture of the worst of the warping on one of my new raised beds...

View attachment 3855849

You can see in the corner there that a few boards have warped inwards into the raised bed. That gap, as I measure it, is 7/8 of an inch.

Here is a close up of those warped boards...

View attachment 3855851

You can see it warped so much from the rain that the brad nails have been pulled out of the 2X4 framing.

However, I can certainly live with this imperfection because of the foresight of my initial design in the pallet wood raised bed v2.0. As you can see, the 2X4 framing is on the outside of the sidewall boards. The sidewall boards are on the inside of the framing. All the weight of the soil in the raised bed is pushing against the sidewall boards holding it in place on the 2X4 frame even though the boards have warped inwards. IF I had placed those sidewall boards on the outside of the 2X4 framing, those warped boards would have blown out!

Lesson learned, just the same, is that in the future I will be sure to leave a slight gap in the sidewall boards to allow for expansion when exposed to rain. I think this is the first time I saw that problem because the pallet wood I used this winter was dry in my garage whereas all my previous raised beds were built outside where I am sure the wood was not nearly as dry.

As I said, I can live with imperfection. However, if I really wanted to cover up my "mistakes", I could easily tack on some top trim boards and nobody would ever know.

Google picture of top trim boards on a raised bed...

View attachment 3855853

I don't currently plan on adding trim boards to the top of my raised beds, but I do think they do add to the looks of the raised bed, and they also provide somewhat of a place to sit down while tending the raised bed. So, I won't rule out adding top trim boards sometime in the future.

FWIW, all the pallet wood planters I have made for Dear Wife and her flowers do have the top trim boards. She likes the look of the trim boards. Happy Wife, Happy Life!

Picture of one of her new pallet wood planters with top trim boards that I made this past winter...

View attachment 3855855

thanks for posting these pics...they've given me some ideas on how I shall attempt to build some planter boxes and raised beds!

 

[Molpet]

The embarrassing thing about the whole incident is that I'm an NRA certified safety instructor and president of a 700 member rifle and pistol club. Guess I'll have proof of what not to do, while handling a weapon, when I go over safety procedures. Like you stated, live and learn from our mistakes. BTW, I've shot myself with finish nailers and roofing nailers as well.

I've got 165 rifles and pistols in my collection and was surprised with the fact that my wife didn't make me sell them off after my incident.

Just goes to show anyone can make mistakes.
Good cautionary tale to share.

I only have 2 of each : rifle, shotgun and pistol. I don't hunt much anymore and use a 22 LR pistol to dispatch trapped predators. Since I got covid brain I have been extremely cautious about using and cleaning my pistol.