Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[chickengr]

That's interesting. I would have thought that dry pallets would be easier to take apart. But I don't have much experience with the Euro pallets disassembly.

When it comes to the standard pallets I usually get, I use a circular saw to cut off the wood planks at the ends, so a dry pallet is better because the saw cuts dry wood easier than wet wood.

I started taking apart one of the Euro pallets, using a big hammer and some crow bars. Not too bad, and probably easier than a standard pallet. The only thing I did not like was that on the Euro pallet, the planks were nailed down to a cross board and the nails were bent over and pounded into the wood on the bottom side. So, I have to use a thin screwdriver to lift up the nails out of the wood so I can get the hammer enough nail bottom to straighten out.

I am going to have to set up some sawhorses as a table to work on. That will make it easier to dig out those bent nails and pound them straight. Better to do that on a table then bending over on the ground level. I'm getting too old for that.

I still don't have a garage or shed so I bend over in full sun, lol.

 

[gtaus]

I still don't have a garage or shed so I bend over in full sun, lol.

I am not so good at bending over all day out in the hot sun. I really feel it later that night. So, I have come up with solutions that work for me.

I do a lot of work outside, on site, but I came up with a simple, yet very effective way, to keep myself from working on the ground. It's one of the easiest pallet projects I have done, but I use it all the time when I'm working outside.

I just took a full pallet that was in good condition, measured the width of my tow behind trailer for my riding mowers, and screwed down some 2X4's as rails...

Then I flipped everything over. The rails keep the pallet tight enough on my trailer that it does not slide off when I am driving around my property. You might not need those rails, and everything will work just fine, but on my property, I go up and down some banks and the pallet, without rails, would slide. I did not want to drop the pallet, so I added the rails to tighten it up and keep it securely on the trailer.

I decided to go with a pallet with gaps between the boards. That is because I am usually cutting boards or de-nailing boards on that makeshift workbench. Of course, when cutting the wood, I just line up the saw to cut in the gaps. When I am de-nailing some pallet wood, I toss the nails into the trailer down through those gaps. I don't leave nails in the yard, of course.

If I need a complete top, without gaps in the wood, I do have a couple of sheets of reclaimed plywood that were on pallets. For some projects, you might want a solid top. After two years of using this makeshift mobile workbench, I have never needed a full solid top out in the field. But if I did, I would toss some reclaimed plywood on top of the pallet.

Tool transport is very easy. I can easily lift up the end of the pallet, or slide it out of the way, and store all my tools in the trailer box underneath the pallet.

When I need the trailer for moving something else, like topsoil or compost, I just drive my mower over to my storage location and lift off the pallet "workbench" and set it aside until I need it again.

That was one of the simplest pallet projects I have ever done, taking less than 5 minutes to add the 2X4 rails, but it is one project idea that I use all the time. It keeps me from working down on the ground when I'm outside working in the yard.

 

[Smokerbill]

(May 12th)
My pile of chicken run woodchips compost measured 105° this morning. It's getting warmer.

I checked today and the compost pile temp is still at 105°F ten inches deep, 8 days running. As you said @gtaus , I'm assuming that the temperature at the center of the pile is somewhat higher.

 

[Smokerbill]

I just learned about the different stages of composting. New info to me....

https://helpmecompost.com/compost/basics/stages-of-composting/

 

[chickengr]

I am not so good at bending over all day out in the hot sun. I really feel it later that night. So, I have come up with solutions that work for me.

I do a lot of work outside, on site, but I came up with a simple, yet very effective way, to keep myself from working on the ground. It's one of the easiest pallet projects I have done, but I use it all the time when I'm working outside.

I just took a full pallet that was in good condition, measured the width of my tow behind trailer for my riding mowers, and screwed down some 2X4's as rails...

View attachment 4127920

Then I flipped everything over. The rails keep the pallet tight enough on my trailer that it does not slide off when I am driving around my property. You might not need those rails, and everything will work just fine, but on my property, I go up and down some banks and the pallet, without rails, would slide. I did not want to drop the pallet, so I added the rails to tighten it up and keep it securely on the trailer.

View attachment 4127928

I decided to go with a pallet with gaps between the boards. That is because I am usually cutting boards or de-nailing boards on that makeshift workbench. Of course, when cutting the wood, I just line up the saw to cut in the gaps. When I am de-nailing some pallet wood, I toss the nails into the trailer down through those gaps. I don't leave nails in the yard, of course.

If I need a complete top, without gaps in the wood, I do have a couple of sheets of reclaimed plywood that were on pallets. For some projects, you might want a solid top. After two years of using this makeshift mobile workbench, I have never needed a full solid top out in the field. But if I did, I would toss some reclaimed plywood on top of the pallet.

Tool transport is very easy. I can easily lift up the end of the pallet, or slide it out of the way, and store all my tools in the trailer box underneath the pallet.

When I need the trailer for moving something else, like topsoil or compost, I just drive my mower over to my storage location and lift off the pallet "workbench" and set it aside until I need it again.

That was one of the simplest pallet projects I have ever done, taking less than 5 minutes to add the 2X4 rails, but it is one project idea that I use all the time. It keeps me from working down on the ground when I'm outside working in the yard.

my property is sloped. I am going to make a shed from polyurethane panels. I can get them cheap. they are cut leftovers from a container making company.

 

[gtaus]

I just learned about the different stages of composting. New info to me....

https://helpmecompost.com/compost/basics/stages-of-composting/

View attachment 4128023

That's a nice-looking graph. Thank you. I don't do hot composting, per se, because that would require me to turn over a compost bin of litter every once in a while, to get that heat back up there again. In my compost bins, I just fill it up and let it be, for a few years. It may heat up initially, but then it goes down to that maturation level and stays there without additional turning.

I do most of my composting inside the chicken run. My litter ranges from 12 to 18 inches, so not a big, concentrated pile to heat up. However, it's a perfect environment to encourage bugs and worm life. My chickens scratch, peck, and dig in the litter all day long looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms. That helps break down everything into smaller bits, which compost faster, even at a much lower temperature. And, of course, hot composting would kill all bugs and worms, so I don't want hot composting in the chicken run.

I used to use wood chips in my coop as litter, and they work great, but they took many months to break down out in the chicken run. For a number of reasons, I have switched to using shredded paper and cardboard in the coop as litter, and the paper products break down into compost in less than two months out in the chicken run.

If you want fast compost with less work, paper shreds seem to be one of the best ways to go. But I advocate using any free litter resource you can find, including leaves and dried grass clippings.

Since I converted my entire chicken run into a composting system, I have way more finished compost than I can use. So, I don't need fast compost at this point. Last year, for example, I filled all my new garden beds and topped off my old beds, using maybe only 10% of the finished compost in the chicken run. Every year I am adding more litter material to compost in the chicken run than I am taking out.

Although we sell our excess eggs, I figure I "make" much more money with my composting chickens because I no longer buy bagged compost at the big box stores. Additionally, I think my chicken run compost is better than the commercially bagged compost at the big box stores. I know for a fact that my chicken run compost does not contain bits of metal, plastic, or glass that I used to sift out of my store-bought bagged compost.

By volume, I added about $300 worth of bagged compost to my gardens last year. That was a lot of compost. Thank you, chickens. The only downside, of course, is that I now have more than doubled the amount of raised bed gardens I had before I got composting chickens. I could not afford to buy that much compost to feed the gardens before, but now I have more than I can use. I call it Black Gold compost because it's like having money in the bank, ready to use when I need some. Plus, it's just high-quality compost.

Speaking of composting, I was outside yesterday working on removing a tree stump next to my 5-bin pallet wood compost setup. I have some work to do on that 5-bin setup because it got hit with a big branch falling off a tree, kind of messed it up a bit. If/when I get the time to work on that pallet wood compost 5-bin compost setup, I'll post a few pictures. But it's not high on my to-do list because I don't really use those compost bins much anymore. Since I got my chickens, I mainly compost in the chicken run.

 

[gtaus]

my property is sloped. I am going to make a shed from polyurethane panels. I can get them cheap. they are cut leftovers from a container making company.

That sounds like a great project. I advocate reusing whatever salvaged or reclaimed material a person can get for free or at deep discounts.

 

[Smokerbill]

Unfortunately I can't successfully compost in the chicken runs since both are under metal roofs and stay pretty much bone dry year 'round. Poop just soaks into the wood and dries up, but there's not enough moisture to get things composting enough to eat up all the nitrogen in the poo and decompose the wood in a short time.

I think there's a little moisture rising from the bare earth underneath that allows for a really slow compost, but it's not as fast as I need/want.

If my compost pile outdoors is ready to use in a year or so I'll be satisfied. Delayed gratification...