Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Molpet]

the safety benefits

Well worth the money for this alone

 

[Sally PB]

Thanks for the review and the video! I learned something new today.

 

[gtaus]

Well worth the money for this alone [safety benefits]

My father never worried much about safety issues with power tools and such. He would not spend any money on personal safety protection. I'm pretty much the opposite. I try to be as safe as possible. I wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) all the time. That includes gloves, glasses, and hearing protection for almost everything I do. I think that is the better way.

 

[gtaus]

Thanks for the review and the video! I learned something new today.

You are welcome. It was a new accessory for me, so I was glad to post a mini-review on it.

FWIW, a professional wood shop might have similar featherboards but some of them cost around $300.00 or more. For pallet projects, I just wanted something that kept my fingers away from the blade and gave me a good quality rip cut on the board. I'm not looking for perfection on a $15.00 item.

I used my new featherboard all day today ripping some pallet wood into strips. I built new frames and supports for my remaining two protective cages that I want to upgrade.

 

[gtaus]

Another Use Idea for Protective Cages

The other day I posted this picture of one of the two 4X4 foot 2-foot-tall protective cages that I upgraded with a top frame, side supports, and chicken wire over the top...

I have two more of those cages to upgrade but am thinking about not putting the top chicken wire on it at this time. Instead, I intend to put the other two on top of my raised beds and fill them up with leaves.

I need to store leaves for the winter months to toss into the chicken run when it gets full of snow. My chickens will not go outside and walk on the snow. If I put some leaves on top of the snow, just enough to cover the white, they will go outside all day even in the winter.

I had been considering filling up a number of garbage cans full of leaves and using that as leaf storage this winter. Or, maybe packing a bunch of old feed sacks full of leaves and storing them. Then it occurred to me that I could use some of these protective cages, without a top, for winter leaf storage, filling the cage up with leaves, and putting a tarp over it. How easy would that be to open up and take out a bucket or two leaves when I might need them in the winter? Pretty easy I suspect.

For anyone needing a visual, I am thinking about filling up the square chicken wire protective cage full of leaves something like this round wire cage of leaves from Google...

I don't intend my leaves to compost, but if some portion of the pile of leaves does compost, it will only be better for the raised bed next spring when I rake off any remaining leaves. Leaf mold compost is great stuff.

Just for fun, I compared how much storage I would get in a standard outside garbage can compared to one of these protective cages I have been working on for my raised beds. According to "Alexa," my first source of all knowledge, a standard garbage can hold just over 4 cubic feet of leaves...

Compare that to a 4X4 foot 2-foot-tall protective cage that holds 32 cubic feet. Just one of those raised bed protective cages will hold about 8 garbage cans full of leaves!

Since I will have at least 2 of those protective cages that I could fill up with leaves, I am considering maybe using some leaves mixed in with my paper shreds this winter in the chicken coop as the dry deep bedding. I only use free resources for my coop litter.

I have used leaves in the past, mixed in with dried grass and/or wood chips. It all works. The only negative to using leaves is that they can get pretty dusty when I clean out the coop. Paper shreds are much better in that respect.

Still, I have an abundant source of leaves every fall and I am always looking for more ways to use them.

 

[Molpet]

Another Use Idea for Protective Cages

The other day I posted this picture of one of the two 4X4 foot 2-foot-tall protective cages that I upgraded with a top frame, side supports, and chicken wire over the top...

View attachment 3942475

I have two more of those cages to upgrade but am thinking about not putting the top chicken wire on it at this time. Instead, I intend to put the other two on top of my raised beds and fill them up with leaves.

I need to store leaves for the winter months to toss into the chicken run when it gets full of snow. My chickens will not go outside and walk on the snow. If I put some leaves on top of the snow, just enough to cover the white, they will go outside all day even in the winter.

I had been considering filling up a number of garbage cans full of leaves and using that as leaf storage this winter. Or, maybe packing a bunch of old feed sacks full of leaves and storing them. Then it occurred to me that I could use some of these protective cages, without a top, for winter leaf storage, filling the cage up with leaves, and putting a tarp over it. How easy would that be to open up and take out a bucket or two leaves when I might need them in the winter? Pretty easy I suspect.

For anyone needing a visual, I am thinking about filling up the square chicken wire protective cage full of leaves something like this round wire cage of leaves from Google...

View attachment 3942478

I don't intend my leaves to compost, but if some portion of the pile of leaves does compost, it will only be better for the raised bed next spring when I rake off any remaining leaves. Leaf mold compost is great stuff.

Just for fun, I compared how much storage I would get in a standard outside garbage can compared to one of these protective cages I have been working on for my raised beds. According to "Alexa," my first source of all knowledge, a standard garbage can hold just over 4 cubic feet of leaves...

View attachment 3942481

Compare that to a 4X4 foot 2-foot-tall protective cage that holds 32 cubic feet. Just one of those raised bed protective cages will hold about 8 garbage cans full of leaves!

Since I will have at least 2 of those protective cages that I could fill up with leaves, I am considering maybe using some leaves mixed in with my paper shreds this winter in the chicken coop as the dry deep bedding. I only use free resources for my coop litter.

I have used leaves in the past, mixed in with dried grass and/or wood chips. It all works. The only negative to using leaves is that they can get pretty dusty when I clean out the coop. Paper shreds are much better in that respect.

Still, I have an abundant source of leaves every fall and I am always looking for more ways to use them.

I go around in the fall and pickup bags of leaves in town. The bags of mulched leaves hold more and go farther and don't blow away as easily. Just have to look out for unwanted sticks and junk.

 

[Sally PB]

My father never worried much about safety issues with power tools and such. He would not spend any money on personal safety protection. I'm pretty much the opposite. I try to be as safe as possible. I wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) all the time. That includes gloves, glasses, and hearing protection for almost everything I do. I think that is the better way.

Replacement body parts are VERY expensive, if they are available, and they never work as well as original issue.

Your way is much better.

 

[gtaus]

I go around in the fall and pickup bags of leaves in town. The bags of mulched leaves hold more and go farther and don't blow away as easily. Just have to look out for unwanted sticks and junk.

Sounds like a good idea. I don't live in town, but I have 3 acres of wooded property with more leaves than I need. If I lived in town, I think I would pick up those bags of leaves as well.

Years ago, I used to shred my leaves to take down the bulk. I have a nice gas wood chipper/leaf shredder that I used for many years. Since I got a backyard flock 4 years ago, I just give the whole leaves to the chickens, and they shred them down with all their scratching and pecking. I prefer to let the chickens do the work, which they love to do. I have not used my leaf shredder since I got chickens.

 

[gtaus]

Replacement body parts are VERY expensive, if they are available, and they never work as well as original issue.

Your way is much better.

Yeah. One of my careers was as an RN and I don't take my limbs, or health, for granted. I had many patients that got injured on the job and suffered lifelong disabilities. I did not want to end up like them.

 

[Molpet]

Sounds like a good idea. I don't live in town, but I have 3 acres of wooded property with more leaves than I need. If I lived in town, I think I would pick up those bags of leaves as well.

Years ago, I used to shred my leaves to take down the bulk. I have a nice gas wood chipper/leaf shredder that I used for many years. Since I got a backyard flock 4 years ago, I just give the whole leaves to the chickens, and they shred them down with all their scratching and pecking. I prefer to let the chickens do the work, which they love to do. I have not used my leaf shredder since I got chickens.

Town is a couple miles away.
Lots easier to pick up 3 truck loads of bagged leaves than raking 50 bags lol.
I have mainly black walnut trees on this side of the creek so not good for gardens. A section of bottom land this side of the creek is near cottonwood and I bag that wet grass and leaves and cover the garden in the fall along with stuff I truck in.
Unfortunately my truck is having transmission issues and I don't know if my cousin can fix it before the leaves are done. I also go around after Halloween and pickup pumpkins and straw.