Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[MACCanadianCoop]

I'll have to see if we have a local dealer/installer of wood furnaces/stoves for the house. Maybe they will have some ideas. Thanks.

Most fireplace companies would know about wood stoves as well

 

[gtaus]

However, the metal doesn't bend (we shall use it for the the turkeys no big) so we are going to get a super heavy duty tarp and do up the roof with that.

Metal is great for roofs. I don't know about a heavy duty tarp, at least where I live, I don't think it would last very long under our snow loads in the winter. I know my light duty tarpes I used last winter to cover some of my outdoor equipment were ripped to shreds long before springtime. The tarps would freeze, crack, rip in the wind, and get all torn up.

Don't know how much pallet wood you have hanging around, but it might be an option to make a pallet shingle shake style roof. There are a number of different ways to make that work. But, I know metal roofing is good and goes on fast.

 

[gtaus]

Huge mental hugs for your friend!

Thanks. It's terrible to hear about all those families destroyed by the loss of their husbands/fathers at such an early age. I know I grew up with lots of respect for firefighters. It's hard to believe they gave their lives for breathing in toxic fumes from burning pits on the base.

Anyways, I have never seen any MB pallets and I agree that they would be most rare these days. If you do get one, just get rid of it at your local county landfill or recycle center. You should not use the MB pallet wood for any projects around the house, and definitely don't burn it.

 

[gtaus]

Most fireplace companies would know about wood stoves as well

I actually have an old wood stove/oven that we used back in the day at our lake cabin when we had no electricity. Still in good working condition, but sitting out in one of my garages in storage. Would love to set it up in the house, but I know they can get smokey and Dear Wife would not put up with that. A wood furnace might be an option.

Here is a google picture of a wood cook stove almost like mine in storage...

Mine has the water reservoir on the side, too, like in this picture. The metal on my cookstove is a much darker black, but the overall design is the same, including the warming ovens/cabinets above the stove top.

I loved the smell of burning wood early in the cold Minnesota spring mornings at the lake cabin because I knew it would soon be followed up by the smell of fresh pancakes. Grandma made the best pancakes. Great memories.

I would really like to setup up my wood cookstove in our dining room off the kitchen, but it would take up a lot of room and Dear Wife is not going to go for that idea. Too bad, because those pallet wood rejects and bits and pieces would be perfect for burning in that stove.

I know a guy who installed one of those outdoor wood furnaces. After he had it for a number of years, I asked him if he would do it over again. He told me, frankly no, he would not. It cost him much more to install and setup up than he was expecting, it did save some money on heating expenses, but the payback period was something like 15 years. In the meantime, he said that he was just getting too wore down cutting wood, stoking the wood furnace multiple times per day in the dead of winter, having to clean it out, and other maintenance and repair issues that pop up from time to time. Where I live, if you pay someone to deliver cut and split wood to your house, you will not be saving much money over a gas\propane\electric furnace. I guess if you are young enough, and in good health, then doing all the manual labor yourself for the wood furnace is not an issue. But, as my friend got older, he said he was just not up to the task anymore.

If I got a wood furnace, the idea would be to use it late in the fall and early in the spring just to take off the chill in the air.

 

[gtaus]

Finally stopped raining, so today I was outside dragging the gravel on the driveway trying to level out some potholes that have developed over the summer. Got a chance to mow a patch of the yard that was dry enough not to clog my grass clippings chute (I save the grass clippings for my chicken run compost system).

This evening, after supper, I was able to get the framing wood cut for my next pallet wood raised bed. Tomorrow, I hope to put it together with pocket hole screws and finish it off with the sidewall planks. Getting a little done each day which is good enough for me. Won't be planting anything in them until next spring.

Don't know what my next pallet wood project will be, but I need to build some kind of stand/organizer/rack for all my hammers and mallets. Currently, they are just thrown on a shelf, totally disorganized. Hope to get something thrown together for the hammers this weekend. Think pallet wood is the perfect choice for that project.

I'm thinking something simple like this Google pic...

 

[ChicksnMore]

I actually have an old wood stove/oven that we used back in the day at our lake cabin when we had no electricity. Still in good working condition, but sitting out in one of my garages in storage. Would love to set it up in the house, but I know they can get smokey and Dear Wife would not put up with that. A wood furnace might be an option.

Here is a google picture of a wood cook stove almost like mine in storage...

View attachment 3236063

Mine has the water reservoir on the side, too, like in this picture. The metal on my cookstove is a much darker black, but the overall design is the same, including the warming ovens/cabinets above the stove top.

I loved the smell of burning wood early in the cold Minnesota spring mornings at the lake cabin because I knew it would soon be followed up by the smell of fresh pancakes. Grandma made the best pancakes. Great memories.

I would really like to setup up my wood cookstove in our dining room off the kitchen, but it would take up a lot of room and Dear Wife is not going to go for that idea. Too bad, because those pallet wood rejects and bits and pieces would be perfect for burning in that stove.

I know a guy who installed one of those outdoor wood furnaces. After he had it for a number of years, I asked him if he would do it over again. He told me, frankly no, he would not. It cost him much more to install and setup up than he was expecting, it did save some money on heating expenses, but the payback period was something like 15 years. In the meantime, he said that he was just getting too wore down cutting wood, stoking the wood furnace multiple times per day in the dead of winter, having to clean it out, and other maintenance and repair issues that pop up from time to time. Where I live, if you pay someone to deliver cut and split wood to your house, you will not be saving much money over a gas\propane\electric furnace. I guess if you are young enough, and in good health, then doing all the manual labor yourself for the wood furnace is not an issue. But, as my friend got older, he said he was just not up to the task anymore.

If I got a wood furnace, the idea would be to use it late in the fall and early in the spring just to take off the chill in the air.

That looks a lot like the stove we had when I was a kid. My dad picked it up somewhere and he used volcanic rock to completely cover the walls and floor in one corner of our living room, added that to it, and we used it on winter nights when we were all hanging out there. No idea how any of the work was done though because I was pretty young when he did it. I remember helping to gather the rock from a hillside and enjoying it after is all. But he did do the work himself and had an inspector out to make sure everything met codes. He wasn't an experienced builder and the results were beautiful and fun. There was a rocking chair next to it and us kids would fight for that chair

Finally stopped raining, so today I was outside dragging the gravel on the driveway trying to level out some potholes that have developed over the summer. Got a chance to mow a patch of the yard that was dry enough not to clog my grass clippings chute (I save the grass clippings for my chicken run compost system).

This evening, after supper, I was able to get the framing wood cut for my next pallet wood raised bed. Tomorrow, I hope to put it together with pocket hole screws and finish it off with the sidewall planks. Getting a little done each day which is good enough for me. Won't be planting anything in them until next spring.

Don't know what my next pallet wood project will be, but I need to build some kind of stand/organizer/rack for all my hammers and mallets. Currently, they are just thrown on a shelf, totally disorganized. Hope to get something thrown together for the hammers this weekend. Think pallet wood is the perfect choice for that project.

I'm thinking something simple like this Google pic...

View attachment 3236111

Looks better then my 5 gallon hammer bucket! That'd be good hanging off one end of your workbench

 

[ChicksnMore]

I actually have an old wood stove/oven that we used back in the day at our lake cabin when we had no electricity. Still in good working condition, but sitting out in one of my garages in storage. Would love to set it up in the house, but I know they can get smokey and Dear Wife would not put up with that. A wood furnace might be an option.

Here is a google picture of a wood cook stove almost like mine in storage...

View attachment 3236063

Mine has the water reservoir on the side, too, like in this picture. The metal on my cookstove is a much darker black, but the overall design is the same, including the warming ovens/cabinets above the stove top.

I loved the smell of burning wood early in the cold Minnesota spring mornings at the lake cabin because I knew it would soon be followed up by the smell of fresh pancakes. Grandma made the best pancakes. Great memories.

I would really like to setup up my wood cookstove in our dining room off the kitchen, but it would take up a lot of room and Dear Wife is not going to go for that idea. Too bad, because those pallet wood rejects and bits and pieces would be perfect for burning in that stove.

I know a guy who installed one of those outdoor wood furnaces. After he had it for a number of years, I asked him if he would do it over again. He told me, frankly no, he would not. It cost him much more to install and setup up than he was expecting, it did save some money on heating expenses, but the payback period was something like 15 years. In the meantime, he said that he was just getting too wore down cutting wood, stoking the wood furnace multiple times per day in the dead of winter, having to clean it out, and other maintenance and repair issues that pop up from time to time. Where I live, if you pay someone to deliver cut and split wood to your house, you will not be saving much money over a gas\propane\electric furnace. I guess if you are young enough, and in good health, then doing all the manual labor yourself for the wood furnace is not an issue. But, as my friend got older, he said he was just not up to the task anymore.

If I got a wood furnace, the idea would be to use it late in the fall and early in the spring just to take off the chill in the air.

Should add that he had a metal pipe that ran into the ceiling... assuming that's where the smoke vented and it must have gone all the way through the roof.

 

[gtaus]

I finished building my second pallet wood raised bed just before supper. Looks pretty much the same as the first one I made, so nothing new to look at. Might upload a pic or two when I set it up out in the backyard with the other raised beds.

I got a lot of planks cut down to 16 inches, so if I build more planters for Dear Wife, I'll already have those ready to put on the frames. Should take practically no time to make more planters if/when we want more.

I mentioned that I had a number of pallet wood bits and pieces that were taking up too much room. I burned some pallet pieces yesterday in a fire ring where I am slowly burning out a stump. Added a few more bits of pallet wood from all the cutting I did today. Also, I dumped my old ripped and torn gloves into the fire ring to give them a well-deserved passing on a funeral pyre. Out with the old gloves, in with a new pair.

Speaking of pallet wood bits and pieces, I have found a use for a cut off section of 2X4. I just drilled some holes in it to hold my most used drill bits.

Obviously, nothing fancy. But it holds my most used drill bits in a manner that I can easily see which bit I want to use. I have complete kits in holders, which I keep in my tool bags. But this section of wood will be to hold just the most used drill bits alongside my drills on the shelf. Better than tossing them in a tool drawer and having to rummage around in it looking for the bit(s) I want. Now, they are right in front of me and easy to see.

In keeping with the free pallet wood concept, these drill bits I have in the picture were purchased from Menards, and if I remember correctly, they were Free After Rebate back in the day. Not the best quality, but I use them until they break and then open up another pack of freebies.

I would also like to say that I am also using low cost blades in my saws, because with pallet wood, you never know when you might hit a hidden nail. I already damaged my blade in my circular saw, but it was just an inexpensive blade that I won't cry about replacing. I hit a hidden nail when I was breaking down a pallet using the circular saw to cut the planks. Broke off a tooth or two on the saw blade, but I'll use it as is for the pallet breakdowns until it can't cut anymore.

In fact, I have set that circular saw aside just for work with pallet wood. I have other saws, with more expensive blades, but I won't use them on my pallet projects. Remember guys, it's not "free" wood if you destroy a $30 blade in a saw or planer.

 

[gtaus]

Got my second pallet raised bed in place out in the backyard. It's the one on the left. I will be turning it into a hügelkultur raised bed, using wood logs on the bottom, then a layer of sticks and branches, followed by a layer of green organics, then the top 6-8 inches will be a chicken run compost and top soil mixed 1:1.

In the background, you can see my chicken coop and run. I am slowly moving all my gardening from my main garden (that does not have running water) to here behind my house where I can hook up a hose and sprinkler. Our summers have been getting hotter, with less rainfall, so my main garden has really suffered. My raised beds here in the backyard are doing really great.

Also, I think it's a better idea to have my garden next to my chicken coop and run. I use my chicken run compost to feed the raised beds, and the raised beds feed the family. The chickens get our leftovers and kitchen scraps, and the chickens make more compost. And so the cycle continues...

 

[chickengr]

Just a shout out to some people who I was talking to about pallet projects on the "What Did You Do In The Garden Today" thread. As much as I like that thread, it has so many posts per day that I can't pretend to keep up with it. Anyway, if you guys find this thread interesting, please post some pics, thoughts, or questions you may have about pallet projects for discussion.

@chickengr
@ChicksnMore
@Nodakj
@TJAnonymous

somehow I missed notification. I need time to catch up - 21 pages!