Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

I like your stacking idea. For some of the chicken wire panels I made I ripped 2x4s down the middle to build the frames. They're solid, but much lighter than if I used complete width 2x4s.

Thanks for the pictures. Looks like you have been busy. Love seeing what other people are doing.

I think the stacking idea for the cages will work out better for me. It took me awhile to get there, but for now, it seems to be my best way forward.

As to ripping my 2X4's, I have found that I can dial the rip back to 3/4 of an inch for my pallet wood chicken wire protective cages. That gives me 4 rips per 2X4. For my needs, 3/4-inch-thick rips are the sweet spot, being strong enough for the cage yet lighter to move around.

I agree that using full 2X4's is too heavy, and let's face, just overkill for many of our projects. I mean, they use 2X4's to build a house! Don't think I need that strength for some garden cages. I cut some 2X4's down the middle to build my earlier cages, but I found them a bit heavy and perhaps more wood than I needed. I tried out ripping the 2X4 down to 3/4 inch thick rips and that seemed to work better - lighter and yet still plenty strong for my projects.

I thought that was a real black bear in your garden at first! I live on a lake, and we do have black bears that pass through the property every once in a while. We have to keep our garbage cans inside the garage with the doors closed. Also, nobody has bird feeders out in the yard because it will attract bears. It's better for people and wild bears to keep to themselves!

 

[Smokerbill]

The deer are used to the black bear archery target now. For the first couple weeks it was there my heart would skip a beat when I glanced over and saw it. LOL

I'll try the 3/4 inch rip next time. Sounds like a better idea, and it's more economical.

 

[gtaus]

New Band Saw Purchase!

I have been looking at getting a small 9-inch band saw for a year or so. Yes, I have not really needed one before, but I'm at a stage in my life where I am more willing to spend some money on myself for my hobbies. I watched too many YouTube videos on band saws and talked myself into buying one if the price was right.

Turns out, while in Harbor Freight a few weeks ago, they had last year's 9-inch Central Machinery band saw model on Clearance for about $80.00!

I don't know anything about band saws, so I read a number of reviews online and watched some YouTube videos. Everyone seemed to be happy with this band saw and thought it was good value at full retail price.

And to compare the Clearance price with this year's model (the same specs as last year) was an eye opener...

Different brand, but basically the same saw. Since the store only had one of Clearance band saws left, I bought it. I'm still learning how to set it up properly and use it. So far, I really like it. Of course, now every project I do I'm looking for a reason to use the band saw! New toys, new ideas!

I have used the band saw on a few small projects and it's the better tool for some things. I was cutting tapers on the legs of my stackable compost bins, for example. Much safer using the band saw than trying to free hand cut the taper legs on my miter saw like I had been doing. Safer is better.

Of course, one of the real reasons for a band saw is cutting curves in wood. I have yet to do that on any of my projects. But I suspect I'll be looking for projects that will make use out of my new band saw.

 

[gtaus]

I'll try the 3/4 inch rip next time. Sounds like a better idea, and it's more economical.

Well, I have all the free reclaimed and pallet wood I could want. But I find the 3/4-inch rip to be the sweet spot for me. If you had to buy the lumber, no doubt you would want to try the most economical method. If you give the 3/4-inch rip a try, let me know what you think of it. Again, for my protective cages, it's more than strong enough.

 

[Molpet]

If the stacking cages get pushed around by Bambi, the plant might be broken.
A short piece of wood sticking up inside the corners probably would keep in place.

 

[Sally PB]

Of course, one of the real reasons for a band saw is cutting curves in wood. I have yet to do that on any of my projects. But I suspect I'll be looking for projects that will make use out of my new band saw.

And then posting pictures, I hope!

 

[Sally PB]

I'm wondering about making cages to go around my blue berry bushes. Birds get all the berries just before they get ripe. I wonder if the birds that are the thieves are small enough to get through chicken wire...?

 

[Smokerbill]

I'm wondering about making cages to go around my blue berry bushes. Birds get all the berries just before they get ripe. I wonder if the birds that are the thieves are small enough to get through chicken wire...?

I bought a roll of this deer mesh to use for fencing around one of my garden beds. It's really tough stuff, and the mesh size is less than one inch so it would probably keep any little birdies away from the blueberies.

 

[chickengr]

Yet Another Deer Attack! Thoughts on Protective Cages.

Deer must really like peppers!? I went outside the other day and discovered that the deer had eaten off the tops of the pepper plants in one of my raised beds. I had a 2-foot-tall chicken wire protective cage around the pepper plants, plus the raised bed is already 16 inches high, but some of the plants had grown over the chicken wire cage. The deer ate everything sticking above the fencing.

Although I am somewhat disappointed, all the peppers were below that level. So, I don't think I actually lost any peppers already growing. Will the lopped off tops slow down the production of the plants? Maybe. I don't know.

In any case, I have been living with my pallet wood chicken wire protective cages this year and seeing what kind of design works best for me. It's amazing how something you thought would be so good actually does not work out so well in practice!

Case in point, this past year I made a number of pallet wood protective cages that were 2-, 3-, and 4- feet tall. Some had wire tops on them, some not. I set those cages on top of my raised beds. The idea was to keep out the rabbits when the plants are young and be tall enough to keep out the deer later in the summer/fall when food is ready to harvest.

Here is what I think I have learned this summer. The 4-foot-tall cages were too tall to reach into and work the garden beds. Also, they are too bulky and heavy for a one-person lift. Most of the time, I work alone in the garden. So, no more 4-foot-tall protective cages.

View attachment 4202802

Next, I had some 3-foot-tall protective cages, some with chicken wire tops, some open. The 3-foot-tall cages were better overall. I can lift them off by myself without much problem. I can still reach into the garden beds and pull weeds or do other maintenance without having to remove the cage if the top is open.

I had one 3-foot-tall protective cage with chicken wire on top and put that on a raised bed with eggplants. If we don't completely enclose our eggplants, the squirrels will eat them. So, the top on the protective cage worked OK for that bed. But I quickly discovered that having wire tops on the cages meant I would not be getting into the bed as much as I might have wanted. So, mid-summer, I removed the cage, pulled all the weeds, and put down a heavy mulch on the soil. That has kept the weed growth down in that bed and good enough that I have not needed to do any more maintenance.

The eggplants are about ready to harvest, and I only had to work with that 3-foot-tall protective cage once this summer. I consider that a success because in prior years, without a completely enclosed cage, we lost almost all our eggplants to the squirrels.

In general, I prefer the cages without tops which are good enough to keep out the rabbits, but I can still reach inside and work the bed.

Having said all that, I find the 2-foot-tall open top cages have worked the best for me. They keep the rabbits out and I can easily reach inside the cage and work the bed.

View attachment 4202804

However, the 2-foot-tall cages are not tall enough to keep the deer out later in the summer when the plants grow taller than the chicken wire. My new idea is to stack two 2-foot-tall protective cages one on top the other, as needed, to keep out the deer. Gravity should be good enough to keep the top cage on the bottom cage, but if not, I can tie them together. With two 2-foot-tall pallet wood protective cages and the raised bed at 16 inches to start with, I have almost 5-1/2-feet of protection from the deer. I don't think the deer will be trying to reach up and over 5-1/2-feet!

I have no problem handling the 2-foot-tall cages by myself. I can easily take off the top cage and leave the bottom one in place as I work the garden. Going forward, I think everything will be based on the 2-foot-tall design, stacking one on top of the other if needed.

Getting back to my pepper bed that the deer ate off the tops of the plants, I had an old 4X4 chicken wire cage with a wire top that I used out in my old garden to protect my beans from the deer. It's not much to look at, but it fit on top of 4X4 cage I was using for the pepper bed.

View attachment 4202810

I'll make another pallet wood frame for the top and cut some vertical supports to make it a proper, solid cage like the ones I am building now. But that can wait until after harvesting that bed. For now, it is protecting the pepper plants, and they are growing taller with the new top cage protecting them. Where I live, my peppers don't grow much over 3 feet tall in our short growing season. So, two 2-foot-tall cages should be more than enough protection going forward.

It's been raining here almost every day the past week, so I have not been doing much outside. The pictures in this post were taken last year. But that is what I am still working with.

My current plan is to cut my 4-foot-tall protective cage and remake it into two 2-foot-tall cages. That size just works better for me, and if the stacking idea works, I think it will be much more useful for me. Most of my protective cages do not need wire tops, however, I will have a couple cages with tops if I have to protect the plants, like the eggplants, from those darn squirrels.

If/when I get the new pallet wood protective cages built, I'll post some new pictures of the project. Although I have had mixed results with the cages this year, I have successfully protected almost all the plants from hungry pests. Now I just need to dial in the size that works best for me to work the beds and yet still protect the plants as needed. I'm thinking the 2-foot-tall option, stacked if needed, is my best option.

sorry for the deer trouble. your growing season is almost done so deer did you a favour. some people chop pepper tops so that peppers can ripen faster. I did the same with my only 2 pumpkin vines that have a pumpkin each.

 

[chickengr]

I'm wondering about making cages to go around my blue berry bushes. Birds get all the berries just before they get ripe. I wonder if the birds that are the thieves are small enough to get through chicken wire...?

chicken wire protects from sparrows here.