Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

I think the first picture in your post will be the method I use. There are a pair of large cedar trees about 4 feet apart right next to the compost pile. I bet I could find a strong branch to attach to sifter to. I'd sift directly to the ground and then shovel it into my wheelbarrow.

Yeah, I have 3 garden carts, so I make everything to sift directly into an empty cart. Nothing wrong with sifting it to the ground and shoveling it back into a wheelbarrow, it's just an extra step I eliminate with multiple carts.

Here's the sifter. Free wood being used for a second time, free screen, and reused the same screws. I probably overdid it with the staples, but it's fun shooting staples, so I had a good time!

Nice build on the compost frame sifter. You can never have too many staples! If you find that the staples start to fail to hold the wire to the frame - compost can get heavy - then you can add some slats of wood to the bottom sandwiching the wire between the slats and the frame. I had to do that to my compost sifter frame and got a few more years out of it.

 

[fuzzi]

That would! Mine has a lot of branches, wood chips and other big stuff in it that I'd rather not put in the raised beds.

I'll try to set it up tomorrow for a trial run.

I've been removing a lot of plants from my garden, so there are some areas I can start amending with compost to get them ready for next spring.

I've a small setup, currently three 4' x 8' x 14" beds, so if I see larger items in my compost I remove them, for later use.

 

[electrycmonk]

I repurposed the form I made for the concrete pad I poured. After adjusting the dimensions a little, I used my narrow crown air stapler and attached a section of 1/2"x1" welded wire screen, commonly used as rabbit cage floors.
.

So I know exactly what material
You are talking about… I learned of it as HC which is short for “Hardware Cloth.”

 

[Smokerbill]

So I know exactly what material
You are talking about… I learned of it as HC which is short for “Hardware Cloth.”
View attachment 3649383

I didn't use hardware cloth. I used the type of welded wire screening used for rabbit cages, which is made of heavier gauge wire. But hardware cloth would work. If I had some 1/2x1/2 inch HWC left over, I would have used it instead of the 1/2 X 1.

 

[gtaus]

So I know exactly what material
You are talking about… I learned of it as HC which is short for “Hardware Cloth.”

There might be regional differences as to what that is commonly called. I grew up calling it welded wire or wire mesh. I don't think I ever heard of rabbit floor wire called hardware cloth until I joined the BYC forum. I also grew up buying chicken wire, not poultry netting. It's good to clarify what a person means because we all don't use the same terms.

Where I live, we commonly call Pepsi or Dr. Pepper, for example "pop." When I lived in California, they were called "soda." When I was stationed in Georgia, they called all soda pop "coke." Like when you go to a friend's house, and they offer you a "coke." And you say no thanks, I'll take a Pepsi. Then they hand you a Pepsi and say that's what I asked you, if you wanted a coke!?

 

[gtaus]

I didn't use hardware cloth. I used the type of welded wire screening used for rabbit cages, which is made of heavier gauge wire. But hardware cloth would work. If I had some 1/2x1/2 inch HWC left over, I would have used it instead of the 1/2 X 1.

View attachment 3649526

That's what I am familiar with. I had over 100 rabbits when I was a teenager. I wonder if welded wire is a heavier gauge than hardware cloth of the same mesh size?

 

[IRBchickenmama]

I am proposing this separate thread dedicated to showing off your DIY Pallet Projects and perhaps a little discussion on the topic of pallet projects. I know there are pics and posts about pallet projects here and there on the BYC forums, but some people suggested I start a dedicated thread to the subject so we can all share our pallet projects and maybe pass along some good idea for others.

I'll start off with a simple pallet project I built for the garden. It's a tool holder for hoes, rakes, shovels, etc.. I made one full length pallet to hold my longest handled tools, but I added another pallet cut down 3/4 size and 1/2 size for my shorter handled tools. I connected the pallets with some 2X4's long enough to fit my 5 gallon buckets between the pallets. What I like about this project is that it was super simple to make for a beginner. Secondly, I now have my tools all stored in one place instead of laying all over the garden. Third, the stand is light enough to move wherever I want, but heavy enough not to blow over in a good wind. Here's the pic...

View attachment 3208481

Here is what it looks like on the backside.

View attachment 3208485

Looks great. Is pallette wood good for spray painting?

 

[Smokerbill]

That's what I am familiar with. I had over 100 rabbits when I was a teenager. I wonder if welded wire is a heavier gauge than hardware cloth of the same mesh size?

The welded wire mesh I used is much heavier than typical hardware cloth. It's made with 14 gauge wire, while I believe most of what's referred to as "hardware cloth" is 18 or 19 gauge.

14 gauge welded wire mesh in the 1/2 x 1 inch size is difficult to find. Most of it you see on Amazon and TSC is the lighter 16 gauge. I've only seen the 14 gauge available from dedicated rabbit raising supply websites/companies.

 

[gtaus]

Looks great. Is pallette wood good for spray painting?

I have recently been replacing some trim boards on my chicken coop with pallet wood planks. My white barn white is really getting soaked up by the wood and I have needed 3 or 4 coats on the pallet wood. I would think if you wanted to spray paint any wood, you would want to use a good primer to seal the wood and then use spray paint over the primer. Unfortunately, primer is expensive compared to barn paint, so it was cheaper for me to use 3 or 4 coats of white barn paint and not using primer first. Also, I had a lot of barn paint leftover from last year but my primer was all used up. Spray painting, I believe, would be more expensive than barn paint so a good primer coat would probably save you money.

 

[Smokerbill]

It works...



It's in a nice shady spot, a few feet from the compost pile. A little bit of rope wrapped around the trees and four coat hooks from the front porch that I never use is all it took. The compost pile is so close that my feet stay planted in one spot while forking the organic matter into the sifter.

Toss in a few scoops and shake the sifter for a bit to get the finer stuff out. Then I can push the sifter forward to tilt it so the branches and cones roll down to my end. I remove the big stuff with my hands and toss it aside.

My wheelbarrow so narrow it would only catch half of what falls through so I'll just shovel and haul the sifted compost as needed.