Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Sally PB]

Glad to hear you're ok, @Smokerbill.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Well I messed up today. I was cutting out more triangles of plywood to use as corner brackets for my raised bed deer proofing side panels on my table saw. One of them kicked back, and I wasn't standing to the side. Hit me right in my fat belly! Thought I was skewered for a second, but when I looked it was just a big red spot. Kind of bled a little later.

Soap, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol (externally, and internally for good measure) and a big bandage and it's all good. Need to look closer to see if there are any wood slivers embedded in the wound.

In spite of the stupidity, I was able to finish the second raised bed deer proofing enclosure today. I'm pretty proud of the final result. Used lots of free and discount wood. Fencing and screws were the big expense, but it's worth it to keep deer from eating my hard work before I can.

View attachment 3572022View attachment 3572023View attachment 3572024View attachment 3572025

Good looking work and glad you didn't get hurt worse!

 

[gtaus]

I have a 35+ year old cedar log swing that was in bad need of repair. I recently got a nice tractor wheel to use as a burn ring for small campfires. Then I set up the swing by the fire ring for people to sit on and enjoy a little campfire. Unfortunately, some of the wood had rotted out and one day while I was sitting in the swing it crashed to the ground.

Pictures of the broken swing...

A brand new swing of this type cost $449.00 at our local Fleet store. So, I'm thinking this is an excellent pallet wood repair job!

First of all, here is a picture of the rotted wood on the seat that failed.

Here's another look when the pieces are apart...

It took me awhile to think about how to fix this. I ended up using some pallet wood 2X4's and a salvaged 4X4 to make a frame underneath the existing seat. I used lag bolts to attach the repair framework to the timber on the bottom of the swing seat. Then I used some 8-inch-long bolts, washers, and nuts to attach the seat to the swing arms.

Here is a picture of the repair framework attached to the seat and swing arms...

Same thing only put upright on the sawhorses. Unless you knew that the swing was repaired. I don't think you would notice the repair job underneath the seat.

I had to wait for Dear Wife to get home from work to help me carry the swing seat over the swing frame. Then I hung the swing seat back on the frame. It held me good, so Dear Wife joined me on it and it had no problem supporting both our weights.

I have had to replace some pieces of other wood over the years, but what can you do? For example, the seat boards used to be nice, curved timber boards. But they rotted out about 20 years ago and I replaced them with straight 2X6 boards. The 2X6's are much stronger the original seat boards, but they might not look as good or fancy as the original. Oh well.

I had to buy about $6.00 worth of nuts, washers, bolts, and lag screws, but I think it was well worth it considering the $449.00 cost of new swing. I don't know how long the timber will last, but I'm sure all that hardware will last my lifetime.

A few other points to mention. As I said, this swing is over 35 years old. You can see that the legs are up on some blocks. Over the years, as the legs sat in the dirt, the bottoms rotted out and I lost a few inches on the legs. That made the swing uncomforatably low for me. So, I put some pallet wood blocks under the legs to lift up the swing to a more comfortable height. Those blocks are only temporary. I already made 2 pallet wood risers this evening out of 2X4's and 2X6's and have the wood cut for the other 2 risers. I'll finish those tomorrow.

Assuming that the repair holds, I'll probably hit the swing with a pressure washer and maybe give it a paint job of some kind.

Any suggestions on what type of paint to use on rough timbers?

Well, not really a pallet build, but a pallet wood repair just the same. FYI, that fire ring is there to burn out the stump from a large pine tree that I took down this spring. You can see lots of the branches piled up behind the swing. My plan is to burn that stuff in the burn ring this summer, and, hopefully, the stump will be gone before fall. If it takes longer, that is OK, too.

 

[Smokerbill]

Nice Job! @gtaus

 

[gtaus]

Small update on my cedar swing repair....

Today, I finished building my pallet wood risers for the legs of the cedar swing. The risers were the best idea I could come up with for this job. Maybe someone else will have a better idea after reading this post...?

I talked to a number of guys at the "Pro Decks" at the big box stores and they really had no idea how to fix/repair the rotted bottoms of the swing legs. The only option that anyone suggested was removing all the old timber legs and replacing them with new timbers. Well, replacing the old legs with new cedar timber was way too expensive. It would be cheaper to pay $450.00 for the entire swing. So, the idea of replacing the old cedar timber with new cedar timber was a nonstarter.

So, I came up with a pallet wood repair idea. Here is a close up of the riser. I used 2X4's on the inside and 2X6's on the outside. The idea was the 2X4's would give the swing a lift of 3-1/2 inches and the 2X6's on the outside of the riser would limit the movement of the legs and, I hope, will make sure the legs will not slip off the risers.

Another view...

These risers were 100% pallet wood materials, including the salvaged pallet wood nails I used on the risers.

Here is a closeup of one of the swing legs inside the riser I just built....

You can see how the swing leg has rotted out at the bottom over the past ~35 years. Anyways, the idea was that leg is now lifted up by 3-1/2 inches and the 2X6's should prevent the legs from slipping off.

Big picture look of repair so far...

All the risers are the same size, but they look a little distorted in the picture. Also, the legs inside the risers look better centered than what you see in this picture. I gave it a quick test and put myself in the swing and rocked it back and forth a bit. It was solid as a rock, and best yet, the increased height was exactly what was needed. Now I can get up and out of the swing without much effort. Before, when it was too low, I had to grab on to the side of the swing and push myself up and out of the swing. Now, I simply put my feet on the ground and stand up - like it was meant to be.

Next steps.... Assuming that the swing repair will hold, I am thinking of using a pressure washer to spray off all the old grim and repainting the swing, and the foot risers, with some deck restore type paint. That is the kind of thick paint that fills in all cracks up to 1/4 inch. I'm thinking a nice red color.

Speaking of a pressure washer, I was in town today and visited our local church charity Thrift Shop. Guess what? They had an electric pressure washer sitting outside free for anyone who wanted it! So, I threw it into the car and took it home. I don't know if it works, or not. Here is a WalMart picture of the pressure washer I picked up for free today....

I only gave it a quick overview at the thrift store, but it looks like it has all the parts. Most people don't bother to donate non-working items to the thrift store, so I am hopeful that it will work. That would be great. At worse, I suppose I can strip it for parts for use in other projects.

I don't have a pressure washer. I have just used the garden hose with a spray nozzle and scrub brushes to clean stuff. If this works, it will be an upgrade for me.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Small update on my cedar swing repair....

Today, I finished building my pallet wood risers for the legs of the cedar swing. The risers were the best idea I could come up with for this job. Maybe someone else will have a better idea after reading this post...?

I talked to a number of guys at the "Pro Decks" at the big box stores and they really had no idea how to fix/repair the rotted bottoms of the swing legs. The only option that anyone suggested was removing all the old timber legs and replacing them with new timbers. Well, replacing the old legs with new cedar timber was way too expensive. It would be cheaper to pay $450.00 for the entire swing. So, the idea of replacing the old cedar timber with new cedar timber was a nonstarter.

So, I came up with a pallet wood repair idea. Here is a close up of the riser. I used 2X4's on the inside and 2X6's on the outside. The idea was the 2X4's would give the swing a lift of 3-1/2 inches and the 2X6's on the outside of the riser would limit the movement of the legs and, I hope, will make sure the legs will not slip off the risers.

View attachment 3574261

Another view...

View attachment 3574262

These risers were 100% pallet wood materials, including the salvaged pallet wood nails I used on the risers.

Here is a closeup of one of the swing legs inside the riser I just built....

View attachment 3574263

You can see how the swing leg has rotted out at the bottom over the past ~35 years. Anyways, the idea was that leg is now lifted up by 3-1/2 inches and the 2X6's should prevent the legs from slipping off.

Big picture look of repair so far...

View attachment 3574264

All the risers are the same size, but they look a little distorted in the picture. Also, the legs inside the risers look better centered than what you see in this picture. I gave it a quick test and put myself in the swing and rocked it back and forth a bit. It was solid as a rock, and best yet, the increased height was exactly what was needed. Now I can get up and out of the swing without much effort. Before, when it was too low, I had to grab on to the side of the swing and push myself up and out of the swing. Now, I simply put my feet on the ground and stand up - like it was meant to be.

Next steps.... Assuming that the swing repair will hold, I am thinking of using a pressure washer to spray off all the old grim and repainting the swing, and the foot risers, with some deck restore type paint. That is the kind of thick paint that fills in all cracks up to 1/4 inch. I'm thinking a nice red color.

Speaking of a pressure washer, I was in town today and visited our local church charity Thrift Shop. Guess what? They had an electric pressure washer sitting outside free for anyone who wanted it! So, I threw it into the car and took it home. I don't know if it works, or not. Here is a WalMart picture of the pressure washer I picked up for free today....

View attachment 3574276

I only gave it a quick overview at the thrift store, but it looks like it has all the parts. Most people don't bother to donate non-working items to the thrift store, so I am hopeful that it will work. That would be great. At worse, I suppose I can strip it for parts for use in other projects.

I don't have a pressure washer. I have just used the garden hose with a spray nozzle and scrub brushes to clean stuff. If this works, it will be an upgrade for me.

Looks like a sound solution to me!

 

[Sammster]

Well I messed up today. I was cutting out more triangles of plywood to use as corner brackets for my raised bed deer proofing side panels on my table saw. One of them kicked back, and I wasn't standing to the side. Hit me right in my fat belly! Thought I was skewered for a second, but when I looked it was just a big red spot. Kind of bled a little later.

Soap, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol (externally, and internally for good measure) and a big bandage and it's all good. Need to look closer to see if there are any wood slivers embedded in the wound.

In spite of the stupidity, I was able to finish the second raised bed deer proofing enclosure today. I'm pretty proud of the final result. Used lots of free and discount wood. Fencing and screws were the big expense, but it's worth it to keep deer from eating my hard work before I can.

Yikes! How are you feeling, now? That's very scary!
Your gardens are beautiful, though

 

[gtaus]

Yesterday I mentioned that I picked up a small electric pressure washer for free outside of our local church charity Thift Shop.

I hooked up everything this morning, and it works! Well.... kind of. I was spraying down the small wood swing we have in the front yard, and everything was working fine - for about 5 minutes - then it just shut down on me and lost all pressure. Seemed like the machine had run out of water and that triggered a shutdown. Anyways, could not get it to refill and repressurize. So, I took the hoses off and unplugged the machine for about 10 minutes. Then I put everything back together and it works again!

I'm thinking that maybe you have to be careful not to run it for an extended period of time, that maybe it shoots out pressurized water faster than it can refill it's tank, and that trips some kind of overload protection and shuts itself down. If anyone has experience with these small pressure washers, maybe you could tell me what is going on?

For now, I'll be looking online to download a PDF owner's manual on this machine and how to operate it correctly. It seems to work OK if I spray a little, then stop for a bit. But it does not work if I try to continuously spray without stopping and letting the water refill the tank.

Depending on the weather - we are supposed to have thundershowers today, I'll move the pressure washer to the backyard and spray down the old cedar swing I have been working on. It's got some old moss and grim growing on the wood. I'll have to get rid of all of that if I repaint the swing.

Speaking of repainting.... I was thinking last night that maybe I should just paint the cedar swing with the barnyard red paint that I used on my chicken coop. I just took in my barnyard red and white paint cans to the Fleet Store yesterday to shake them up again so I can do some repair and repaint work on the coop. Here is a picture of the backside of my coop which needs some new trim....

Anyways, I was thinking the that barnyard red paint might look good on the old swing. Any thoughts?

I was going to cut a piece of salvaged wood to replace the broken trim in this picture, but currently is too cold outside and it looks like rain any minute. I don't want to paint the trim board and have it rained on before the paint dries.

Again, imagine this swing painted with the barnyard red paint...

I'm thinking it might look good painted the same red color as the chicken coop since both are in the backyard. But I'm no exterior decorator. And, truth be told, I'm Red/Green colorblind so I have difficulty with colors. Knowing I am using the same brand and color of paint, from the same can, at least I would know that they match.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Yesterday I mentioned that I picked up a small electric pressure washer for free outside of our local church charity Thift Shop.

View attachment 3574656

I hooked up everything this morning, and it works! Well.... kind of. I was spraying down the small wood swing we have in the front yard, and everything was working fine - for about 5 minutes - then it just shut down on me and lost all pressure. Seemed like the machine had run out of water and that triggered a shutdown. Anyways, could not get it to refill and repressurize. So, I took the hoses off and unplugged the machine for about 10 minutes. Then I put everything back together and it works again!

I'm thinking that maybe you have to be careful not to run it for an extended period of time, that maybe it shoots out pressurized water faster than it can refill it's tank, and that trips some kind of overload protection and shuts itself down. If anyone has experience with these small pressure washers, maybe you could tell me what is going on?

For now, I'll be looking online to download a PDF owner's manual on this machine and how to operate it correctly. It seems to work OK if I spray a little, then stop for a bit. But it does not work if I try to continuously spray without stopping and letting the water refill the tank.

Depending on the weather - we are supposed to have thundershowers today, I'll move the pressure washer to the backyard and spray down the old cedar swing I have been working on. It's got some old moss and grim growing on the wood. I'll have to get rid of all of that if I repaint the swing.

Speaking of repainting.... I was thinking last night that maybe I should just paint the cedar swing with the barnyard red paint that I used on my chicken coop. I just took in my barnyard red and white paint cans to the Fleet Store yesterday to shake them up again so I can do some repair and repaint work on the coop. Here is a picture of the backside of my coop which needs some new trim....

View attachment 3574660

Anyways, I was thinking the that barnyard red paint might look good on the old swing. Any thoughts?

I was going to cut a piece of salvaged wood to replace the broken trim in this picture, but currently is too cold outside and it looks like rain any minute. I don't want to paint the trim board and have it rained on before the paint dries.

Again, imagine this swing painted with the barnyard red paint...

View attachment 3574663

I'm thinking it might look good painted the same red color as the chicken coop since both are in the backyard. But I'm no exterior decorator. And, truth be told, I'm Red/Green colorblind so I have difficulty with colors. Knowing I am using the same brand and color of paint, from the same can, at least I would know that they match.

Barnyard red could look really good. Have you heard of wood hardener? It might not be a bad idea to treat the leg bottoms with wood hardener first or dip them in tar or that asphalt paint first. Would do a great job of extending the life. Wood hardeners made for saving wood suffering from dry rot or wet damage.

 

[gtaus]

Barnyard red could look really good. Have you heard of wood hardener? It might not be a bad idea to treat the leg bottoms with wood hardener first or dip them in tar or that asphalt paint first. Would do a great job of extending the life. Wood hardeners made for saving wood suffering from dry rot or wet damage.

No, I have not heard of wood hardener. I spent about 30 minutes yesterday talking to the guys at the "Pro Desk" about options to recondition that cedar swing. Nobody mentioned anything about wood hardener. Do you have a particular brand name, product name, or link to what you are talking about? The best idea anyone came up with yesterday was the really thick deck restore paint that closes gaps up to 1/4 inch. But that does not sound the same as the wood hardener you are talking about.

Also, I don't know if the leg bottoms will rot as much sitting in those risers I made. Certainly, those leg bottoms rotted out with direct contact with the ground over a period of 35 years. Since I never used any other protection on that cedar wood, it really lasted a long time. Can't complain about the longevity of the swing. Just trying to get a few more years out of it.